4A - The Michigan Daily - Thursday, September 24, 1998

Ulew £irIign anIig

420 Maynard Street
Ann Arbor, MI 48109
Edited and managed by
students at the
University of Michigan

LAURIE MAYK
Editor in Chief
JACK SCHILLACI
Editorial Page Editor

'Where Is it in the Constitution where we gave
away our bodies away to the government?'
- Democratic gubernatorial candidate Geoffrey
Fieger; on the issue of banning assisted suicide
THOMAS KULJURGIS TENTATIVELY SPEAKING

An anatomy of 9
Bill Clinton s
disintegration
f you were him, wouldn't you
resign?
I mean, would you even be able to
get out of bed in the morning? Glance
at your face in the mirror while you
shave and comb your hair? Make
small talk or assess policy over break-
fast?

Unless otherwise noted, unsigned editorials reflect the opinion of the majority of the Daily's editorial board.
All other articles, letters and cartoons do not necessarily reflect the opinion of The Michigan Daily
FROM THE DAILY
' er atthe fRs
'U' offers many options to first-year students

E very year, the beginning of fall semes-
ter presents many challenges. After a
log summer, it is difficult even for upper-
class students to get back into the swing of
school. Between solidifying class sched-
ules, buying books, settling into housing
and balancing social lives, the first month
of the school year is taxing on everyone.
But first-year students do face somewhat
different and unique challenges than the rest
of campus does.
While incoming students look forward
to their college years as being 'some of the
most exciting of their lives, most also look
forward to just making it through the first
days, weeks and months. This part of the
year can be very exciting, but it can also be
very overwhelming. Many students are far
from home, often for the first time. Many
have come without close friends; many are
unsure of their interests or direction; and
many are simply intimidated by the
University's size. Aside from adjusting to
the routine of college classes and life in the
residence halls, learning how to deal with
this new independence and balance school
and a social life - loneliness can be one of
the greatest challenges of the first year.
But it is important to keep perspective on
all of these conflicting emotions. Even
though it may sometimes feel otherwise,
everyone is in the same position. While the
size of the University can alienate students,
it also can draw them in. There are hundreds
of clubs and organizations at the University
for which involvement is not only offered,
but invited and should be encouraged.
Rushing fraternities and sororities is
only a small offering of the wealth of
opportunities in which University students
mny become involved. While the Greek
system does offer many appealing promis-

es of
ships,
this is
them.

social involvement, close friend-
public-service projects and more,
not the only place in which to find

o0L
ST
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New students should try to shop
around and see as many other activities as
possible, either in addition to or instead
of rushing the Greek system. They should
talk to upper-class students to find out
what organizations they became involved
with. They should avoid doing just what
their new friends or roommates are doing,
whether it be rushing or otherwise.
Rather, they should explore their own
interests, do what they enjoy doing, and
be confident that they will make friends
while doing it. Most important, however,
they should expect that it can and will
take time for them~to find their niche.
In the future, the Panhellic Association
and the Interfraternity Council should
consider postponing fall semester Rush to
allow students more time to adjust to their
new living environments. This will bene-
fit both students and the Greek system as
the decision will be better informed and
more thought out. Rushees will be more
well-rounded and be better adjusted to
student life.
Much can happen in four years of col-
lege. Students should be careful not to cast
themselves into any binding commitments
so early in their college careers. Greek
Rush will be offered again in a few months
and, of course, next year. As with all com-
mitments, involvement in a fraternity or
sorority takes up a lot of time. It is, there-
fore, in one's best interest to make
informed personal decisions before enter-
ing into any organization that has the power
to dramatically influence or alter one's
social and academic life.

A-- - I - ohm=

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Breaking free
support group helps eating-disorder sufferers

Price increase
hurts students
To THE DAILY:
I would like to comment
on the massive student ticket
hike for hockey season tick-
ets. I am a recent graduate of
the University and was a sea-
son ticket holder for Michigan
hockey for my entire student
career. As a first-year student,
we had to pay $45 for the
entire season and we got a
free sweatshirt to boot. I
understand that the team has
become more popular with
the great winning tradition.
But the most enjoyable part of
the U of M hockey experience
has been the extremely vocal
and dedicated student fans.
As a result of raising the
price of student tickets, many
students will decide not to
buy tickets. Students face
enormous financial problems
and do not have much money
to spend on entertainment and
University events should be
affordable to more than the
wealthiest students. I know
that if I were still taking class-
es, I would not be able to
afford such expensive tickets
and know many other students
who are under similar finan-
cial strains. This ticket hike
will make hockey season tick-
ets more expensive than any
other athletic season tickets at
the University.
JOSEPH PLEVA
UNIVERSITY ALUMNUS
Vote for John
Sm ietan ka
To THE DAILY:
In November, I am voting
for John Smietanka because
he is by far the most quali-
fied candidate for attorney
general.
In 1974, he began the first
of three terms as the Berrien
County's prosecuting attor-
ney. Before becoming prose-
cuting attorney, Smietanka
served for three years as
Berrien County assistant
prosecuting attorney, during
which he argued and won a
case before the U.S. Supreme
Court. Smietanka was

appointed to the U.S.
Attorney's office by President
Ronald Reagan in 1981.
From then until 1993, he
focused his attention and the
efforts of his staff on prose-
cuting violent and organized
criminals. During his tenure,
countless cases involving
fraud, civil rights, murder,
rape and robbery were suc-
cessfully prosecuted.
In 1990, while he was still
a U.S. attorney, Smietanka
was asked to take on addi-
tional duties as principal
associate to the U.S. deputy
attorney general in
Washington D.C., under
William Barr. As Barr's right-
hand assistant, Smietanka was
the liaison between the
Deputy's office and other
Department of Justice com-
ponents, such as the
Environmental, Civil Rights
and Civil Divisions, and the
U. S. Attorney's and U. S.
Marshal's offices. As liaison,
Smietanka undertook special
initiatives to design proposals
to improve the delivery of
legal services to children in
courts throughout the country.
While serving as both U.S.
attorney and associate to the
deputy attorney general in
Washington D.C., Smietanka
developed "Weed and Seed"
to address the shortcomings
of other federally sponsored
community rehab programs.
The focus of "Weed and
Seed" is to help direct com-
munities to realize their own
goals for rehabilitation, and to
channel their desire for
change into effective and
authoritative action. In 1992,
after the U.S. attorney for
Chicago recused himself,
Smietanka was asked to take
over the prosecution of a
Chicago street gang, the El
Rukns. More than 60 gang
members had been arrested
for murder. Democratic
Attorney General Janet Reno
selected Smietanka for the job
because of his vast experience
and impeccable reputation.
Smietanka is the clear
choice to be Michigan's top
prosecutor and chief law
enforcement officer.
MArT FOGARTY
LSA SOPHOMORE

Athletic
Department
sold fans out
TO THE DAILY:
Great editorial on hockey
tickets in the Sept. 22 Daily
("Sticking it to students")! The
Daily shouldn't forget the
Athletic Department "stuck it"
to everyone, not just students.
Even at reduced rates for
University staff, my single
ticket cost $250 this year. I'm
not sure I can afford to cheer
for Michigan much longer.
With the popularity of our
hockey program, I'm sure that
Yost Arena will be sold out,
but I doubt we'll see the fami-
lies and students who attended
in the past. The atmosphere
that made Michigan hockey so
wonderful may disappear. I
believe it's the Athletic
Department that sold us out.
CARRIE VINARCIK
UNIVERSITY STAFF
Playing
movie during
holiday was
a mistake
TO THE DAILY:
On behalf of the Palestine
Catastrophe Committee, I
would like to apologize for
showing Edward Said's movie
on the second night of Rosh
Hashanah. This was both an
unintentional and inconsiderate
mistake. The goal of our com-
mittee is to raise awareness,
educate and engage in discus-
sions concerning the current
situation in Palestine, Israel
and the occupied territories.
We in no way made any inten-
tional attempt to exclude any
group from seeing movie or
participating in the discussion
that followed. We encourage
anyone who would like to see
the movie to contact us at
palestine@umich.edu and we
would be more than happy to
show the movie again - any-
where.
DEANA RABIAH
SNRE SENIOR

You've been
humiliated before a
global audience.
You've made liars
out of lifelong
friends and loyal
advisers, even out '
of your wife -"
people who trusted
you, believed in
you, staked theirJEFF
careers on you. "I ELDRIDJE
don't believe any-
thing any more S krl xs&
from him," one lT NS
nameless aide says in Monday's New
York Times.
Now you're well on the way to
becoming a unique failure among
American presidents. Reagan gets,
"Mr. Gorbachev, tear down that wall."
Kennedy gets, "Ask not what you're
country can do for you." FDR gets,
"We have nothing to fear but fear
itself."
Posterity aims to stick you with, "I
did not have sexual relations with that
woman"
There's no way you're getting any-
thing done in the next 28 months, and
the few meager things you've accom-
plished in the previous 68 aren't partic-
ularly memorable.
Some of the Democrats in Congress
stick up for you; most don't.
Anonymously, they say you should
just quit and get it over with. A few
say they never liked you in the first
place. The whole team hates you,
because you're the one who dropped
the ball.
Your ex-girlfriend goes into seclusion
and snitches on the secret romantic
symbolism behind your Hugo Boss ties.
You sure as hell can't enjoy a good
cigar anymore.
The presidency becomes a cross
between a Tom Wolfe novel and a sin-
ister episode of "Saved By the Bell."
Nothing can change the unhappy end-
ing ahead - not your powerful friends,
not your elegant sophistry, not a
wiseacre grin followed by a weepy
apology.
"We have almost a virtual impeach-
ment, a Potemkin president," your old
friend Robert Reich says on
Nightline, a remark later printed in the
Times. "He's going through the
motions of being a president, but he
doesn't have very much power or
authority left."
Politically impotent, humiliated,
alone, and likely to face impeachment
proceedings, logic dictates that you
should resign. You're staring straight in
the face of personal doom.
But you can't resign. Any time that
thought creeps into your head, all you
see is Nixon: Nixon of the secret tapes,
Nixon of the scowling profile, broken,
bitter, scorned by history. If you resign,
you're Nixon.
Because resignation means failure.
And if you hang on by the skin of
your teeth, you've still got two things -
you've got rage and indignation.
Rage and indignation - that's all
that's left. That's the only motive for
pushing on.
Clinton can't pass sweeping legisla-
tion anymore. People question the
motives andmeanings behind every
move, even the bombing of terrorist
strongholds.
So what does he do? He launches a
public pity campaign. Soldier ahead in
order to let the enemies know they
won't have the best of it.
Rage and indignation.
They're evident in his 4 1/2-hour
grand-jury testimony. Sitting in the Map
Room, red and sweaty, tripping over the
meanings of "is" and "alone," Clinton
pops witl contempt when he talks about
the jerks who "would take a wrecking
ball to me and see if they could do some

damage.".
These are the same enemies who
made him drop trou in front of Paula
Jones and ask her to kiss it; the same
enemies who made him launch a seamy
affair with a 22-year-old kid, commit
perjury about it, then conceal evidence
of its existence.
It's rage and indignation that led to a
Swaggartian confession of sin at a
prayer breakfast, seeking "genuine
repentance," then following up with a
rankled, contradictory pledge to use "all
available" arguments to win.
Anger can probably be a powerful
motivator. It's probably not enough to
propel a wounded chief executive
through two years of mediocrity and
disgrace - but if you're desperate
and pathetic, it might be worth try-

0l

T he University Psychological Clinic is
offering a nine-week informational
and self-help support group for students
with eating disorders and body image
issues. Society and media images - found
everywhere in fashion magazines, movies
and MTV; not to mention standards creat-
ed by cultural and social norms - make it
quite clear how young adults are "sup-
posed" to look. Developing and maintain-
ing a positive self-image can be hard work.
College students seem to be particularly
vulnerable to poor body image that can
lead to depression and anxiety or a full-
blown eating disorder. During college, stu-
dents are taught to scrutinize everything
they see, and some people apply these
newly honed skills to themselves.
According to Anorexia Nervosa and
Related Eating Disorders, Inc., 86 percent
of people with an eating disorder develop
it before the age of 20.
Recognizing an eating disorder in one's
self or in others can be difficult. They are
stereotypically seen as a white, heterosex-
ual, upper middle-class women's issue.
While 90 percent of people with anorexia
or bulimia are women, people of both
sexes, every race and economic back-
ground can potentially become obsessed
with eating and their perception of them-
selves. Looking thin does not make one
anorexic; being overweight does indicate a
binge-eater. Having a "healthy" or "nor-
mal" body does not mean someone could
not have an eating disorder. The line divid-
ing "normal" eating patterns and eating
disorders is often blurry. Many people,
although not suffering from clinically,

These damaging eating patterns can
grow into a full-time obsession that affects
all parts of the individual's life. It wrecks
self-confidence in areas unrelated to one's
body, such as academic performance.
Eating disorders do not just affect the
women and men who have them. It changes
their relationships with friends and family.
A friend can try to "be there" for them, but
they won't be able to solve the problem, no
matter how badly they try. But friends can
learn to identify destructive eating behavior
and can intervene.
The sooner an eating disorder is identi-
fied and treated, the easier and faster the
recovery, and the smaller the potential for
physical and emotional damage.
Behavioral issues - like learning how to
regain healthy eating habits and how to
feel and respond to hunger again - and
psychological issues - such as under-
standing and coping with the reasons
behind and problems related to the eating
disorder - are addressed in treatment. The
support group run through the
Psychological Services is a good resource
and a great step in the right direction. The
group starts Oct. 7 and interested students
should call 764-3471 to register. The cost
is $15 per meeting and $35 for an initial
consultation.
Letting go of an eating disorder can be a
scary prospect; an individual may feel it is
engrained into their day-to-day life and a
unique part of their identity. It takes a lot of
hard work to transform self-destructive
behaviors into healthy, self-affirming ones.
But considering the pain of living with an
eating disorder as well as the potential long-
-.__- - ta

VIEWPOINT

Clinton
BY THE STAFF OF THE DAILY TEXAN
In less than a month, the Associated Press
has moved a mountain of material from Ken
Starr's investigation of President Clinton over
the newswires. It's all there: Lurid details of
thongs and cigars and phone sex alibis. At its
heart, this scandal is about a sexual affair of
little public consequence. We've seen no high
crimes and misdemeanors. Nothing we've
seen so far justifies resignation or impeach-
ment. But his actions do justify a
Congressional reprimand.
To be very clear, we're disgusted with the
president. He allowed himself to be seduced by
an intern Then he walked into the Ken Starr-

should stay put
Travelgate. Just a sex lie that doesn't justify
triggering the third impeachment inquiry in
this nation's history.
As college students we helped elect this
man president because his vision of the nation
closely resembles our own. And he fights for
the issues we support. We must confront this
controversy and tell political leaders what we
expect them to do - move on.
Washington should wrap up this investiga-
tion fast with a vote of censure. Any evidence
worse than what we've seen so far would have
been breaking news on CNN already. Clinton
deserves censure for lying to the American
people about the affair even though the pun-

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