4A - The Michigan Daily - Thursday, November 4, 1999 &iie £ irbiganDatlg 420 Maynard Street Ann Arbor, MI 48109 daily.letters@umich.edu Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan HEATHER KAMINs Editor in Chief JEFFREY KOSSEFF DAVID WALLACE Editorial Page Editors Unless otherwise noted, unsigned editorials reflect the opinion of the majorityof the Daily's editorial board. All other articles, letters and cartoons do not necessarily reflect the opinion of The Michigan Daily. Ride fprices UHS should provide free meningitis vaccines 1 I c E E J t f t t T t t 1 { j 1 t i C t t C A Veruca Salt-style approach to University financing ! d love a freeze on next year's tuition tion was even proposed. It demonstrates the have been well above inflation. But the cost of increases. It would reduce my student student body's overall inability to under- operating and maintaining a top-notch univer- loans and make me a happy camper. stand the University's financial needs. sity also has exceeded inflation. To compete While we're at it, I'd also like the If it froze tuition increases for the year, with the Berkeleys. Virginias and Cornells of University to buy me a new car. I don't like the University would have to shrink its bud- the country, the University of Michigan must driving,s o University get, almost definitely cutting valuable pro- provide its departments with adequate funds. President Lee . - grams and departments. It's called inflation, A tuition freeze would push us behind other Bollinger should take and anyone who supports a tuition freeze universities. some time out of his needs to look into its ramifications. As long as its state appropriations stay schedule each day to For the current academic year, the above inflation, Michigan State University has be my chauffeur. University's Ann Arbor campus plans to col- agreed to keep its tuition hikes at or below I'm also sick of , lect almost $500 million in tuition and student inflation. That might work well for Michigan eating at Wendy's and fees. If the University increased tuition for State, but the University of Michigan is a pre- Jimmy John's. Sure, next year by 2.8 percent - last year's hike and mier research university - with much heftier they serve decent the lowest in more than 10 years - it would financial needs than Michigan State. food, but we can do receive about $13.5 million more than this If students are truly concerned about better. I propose the year. Most of this would be an offset of infla- tuition costs, they should attack the root of University subsidize tion and the greater cost of operating a uni- the problem. Gov. John Engler seems to meals at Jeffrey versity, so there wouldn't be much real gain. care more about funding the corrections Gandydancer so stu- Kosseff That's not chump change. While a 2.8-per- system than higher education. dents only have to cent tuition increase would unfortunately cost I covered the state House Higher Education pay $5 for dinner. me about $500, I'd just suck it up and take out Appropriations Subcommittee for the Daily in As the bratty w an extra loan or work a few more hours. 1997, and I never once saw a student at the Veruca Salt said in If the University were to freeze tuition Lansing meetings. The only University repre- "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory," increases, that lost $13.5 million would sentative I saw was our lobbyist. Schwarz's "Don't care how, I want it now." result in devastating cuts - either across- subcommittee has met in Ann Arbor about This is the brilliant logic of a recent stu- the-board or larger slashes to individual five times during the past 10 years, and dent government proposal to encourage the departments. While I can easily think of a University students have testified at each University administration to freeze tuition few departments that could use massive meeting. increases. But in reality, unreasonably cuts, I'm sure they would disagree with me. "It helps the University's case because cheap tuition does not go hand in hand with But $13.5 million is the equivalent of the the students tell the members of the sub- a top-of-the-line education. There are costs salaries of about 300 assistant professors - committee what a financial burden it is to and benefits to every policy, and this reso- or about 500 romance language lecturers. go to the University," Schwarz said. lution only looks at the benefits. State Sen. John Schwarz, who has Students should head to Lansing and tell While a Michigan Student Assembly res- chaired the Senate's Higher Education the legislators why the University needs olution carries less weight than Calista Appropriations Subcommittee for 10 years, more funding. But when students take a Flockhart, I'm still glad that 23 members of told me a tuition freeze is "not workable." short-sighted view and propose a complete- the student government were smart enough "It's a nice-sounding populist ideal, but it ly unrealistic policy that would only hurt to vote against and defeat this inane resolu- wouldn't work," Schwarz said. "I don't our University's quality and reputation, tion. It shows me that there are a few stu- think the University of Michigan wants to nobody wins. It's like demanding a golden dents on this campus who understand the raise tuition any more than it has to." chocolate egg and an Oompa Loompa. value of attending a first-class research uni- I understand the reasoning behind a tuition - Je TKey Kosseffjcan be reached over versity. But it saddens me that this resolu- freeze. Over the past decade, tuition increases e-mail at /kosseff aumich.edi. This must be stated outright: you, as someone on a college campus, are at risk of contracting bacterial meningitis. If you haven't heard already, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has issued its strongest Meningitis warning yet to college students against a disease which can, according to the CDC. Website, "be quite severe and may result in brain damage, hearing loss or learning disability." The CDC encourages all peo- ple in close living environments to get the vaccine, which protects against the viral and especially the bacterial forms of the disease. University Health Services has stepped up its campaign to immunize the community as well, by encouraging all people in residence halls to get the vaccine. But there remains a major flaw in their attempt to combat this disease. The vac- cine they are charging students $89 to receive should be free. Let's look at the problem more close- ly. Meningitis is no longer a scare propa- gated simply by 20/20's investigative report earlier this fall. It is real. As a seri- ous public health threat, we can no longer allow meningitis vaccinations to be given only to the privileged number of students who do not have negative checking account balances. Meningitis vaccines are a treatment as important as the prevention of STDs. UHS offers free condoms, so why not free vaccines? Bacterial meningitis can be carried by respiratory and throat secretions and spread by kissing and coughing. It also has been known to spread in situations where there is prolonged exposure to the disease. Fortunately, meningitis is not as com- municable as the flu or the common cold. Yet each week there seems to be several more cases reported every week on col- lege campuses. Last week, a Penn State University football reporter contracted bacterial meningitis while covering the game at Illinois. Ann Arbor hosts about 100,000 people for several hours every other week during the fall, with some sharing scarves and probably unknowingly exchanging other fluids. This puts stu- dents at risk for the possibility.of infec- tion. There are a lot of people coming and going here and infections are close to home. A Michigan State student was recently diagnosed with bacterial meningitis but luckily received treatment before it became serious. Bacterial meningitis can be fatal. The CDC says meningitis can be treated with any number of antibiotics, but must be caught early to lower your chances of dying to below 15 percent. Since the student was diagnosed, Michigan State health officials have low- ered the cost of vaccination from close to $90, to nothing. Let's hear that again. A college campus only an hour away is offering free meningi- tis vaccines, while we pay $89. St. Joseph's Hospital of Ypsilanti only charges three dollars more than UHS. UHS must think that combating a public health threat is worth offering students only a three dollar discount over other health services. Putting students at risk because they cannot afford the vaccine is atrocious. Vaccination should be a right, not a priv- ilege. Make your voice heard. t I w CHIP CULLEN GRINDING THE NIB M- !CH IGAWS WATHER FORECAST FOR TODAY I harshrealitycom Photosdepict cruelty of electric chair W hen execution by electric chair was challenged in the court sys- tem in 1890, it was adopted as a more humane way to execute someone as opposed to hanging. Since then, most states have abandoned this arcane process of execution and turned to lethal injection, which is by no means humane. That seven states still use the electric chair demonstrates the vast problems in our justice system. We support the com- plete elimination of the death penalty, but the electric chair is an especially cruel method that must be eliminated. Anyone who questions the inhumanity of the electric chair should see the results directly - look at actual electric chair photos currently posted on the World Wide Web as part of a Florida Supreme Court justice's dissenting opinion argu- ing against the electric chair. Available at www.flcourts. org/courts/supct/death- warrants/index. html, these are graphic photos of an atrocious and inhumane method, so be warned that if you get sick easily, you probably should not look at this site. These photos graphically depict the reality of how inhumane, unsanitary and terrifyingly cruel the process of execu- tion by the electric chair really is. Forcing yourself to look at these photos and then argue they do not violate the process of "cruel and unusual punish- ment as outlined in the Constitution is country's court system, the Supreme Court has agreed to review the process of execution by electric chair. They have consented to look into whether it violates the Eighth Amendment. The Supreme Court will make a landmark decision as it will inevitably specify its definition of cruel and unusual punishment. Brought to the court's attention by several flawed executions with Florida's electric chair, the Supreme Court has begun to review the history of Florida's executions. Florida, like Alabama, Georgia and Nebraska, is one of four states that still allows capital punishment to occur solely through the electric chair. If the Supreme Court rules the electric chair violates the Constitution, Ohio, South Carolina and Virginia also will no longer offer a convicted felon the choice of the electric chair as a method of exe- cution. In reviewing these photos and hearing the testimonies of people who have wit- nessed the injustice of the electric chair first hand, we hope the courts rule the electric chair unconstitutional. We hope that with expert witnesses like Michael Mello, who holds shocking accounts of cases in which prisoners are either executed or nearly executed in fla- grantly unconstitutional circumstances, and these photos, the court should have the information to ban the electric chair. If you look at the photos, you'll find the closer you Humans' lives are not more valuable than animals' TO THE DAILY: In its editorial about the use of ani- mals in medical research, the Daily wrote that "anyone willing to risk or take a sin- gle human life for the sake of animals has a distorted sense of priorities." What's the matter with you? How did you come to prefer the worthless, selfish creeps you encounter every day to rabbits and dogs and mice'? People are the most dv astat- ingly harmful animal ever produced.We are ruining the world for aliost every- body. There's nothing wrong with placing the lifespan of the mean animals below the freedom and comfort of the more decent animals in your priority list. I would not argue that animals deserve kindness as a right. Rights are not universal: they vary depending on what country you live in. They are flexi- ble and often meaningless. So never mind rights, and think about right. Torture is not right. Imprisonment is not right. You're not quite right either. There are six billion people now. How many more do we want? What is the plan? Will we vigorously battle disease until every square foot is occupied by another upright jackass, complaining about his age? I'd rather there were more rabbits. CHAD GILCHRIST LSA SENIOR Love advice column lacked creativity and effort To THE DAILY: After reading Scott Hunter's column "Ask Dr. Scott, your expert on love and relationships" (11/01/99), I am inclined to believe that Dr. Scott possesses more incompetence on the issues of love and rela- tionships than he commands expertise. I found much of his column tasteless and bla- tantly offensive. Once again the Daily has succumbed to the evils of editorial freedom. When I first entered the University, I was excited at the prospect of a student-run newspaper free from the censorship of administrators and other higher-ups. With this most recent travesty though, I am at the peak of my tolerance for the liberal nature of this newspaper. Specifically I was offended by Dr. Scott's disrespect of Dan Granger. Where does Hunter get off denouncing one of his peers to the point of embarrassment. I cannot find justice in trying to provoke a few laughs at the expense of someone else. The young man made a mistake, can he never live it down? Furthermore, the often duplicated subject matter - advice nn ren;n-hin _ - n , s .eer nd r-L 22 1(- 11.00 AM sunnry Pleao.Th Bieevc i thoughts of our population, as it is out- dated. In addition I cannot comprehend the idea of any person regarding Hunter as an afficionado of love and relationships. My experiences with relationships lead me to believe that most women value men with humility and not those with immodest and disrespectable taste. I cannot see the parallel between Hunter's claim of exper- tise in relationships and the coarse remarks he makes in his column. The women I know would deny him faster than a freshman at Scorekeepers. I do not desire to be subject to works of an insignificant nature. Hunter's lack of creativity and effort reflect this insignificance which runs rampant in the current state of the Daily. Please help save the reputation of the University's student paper and encourage only the inclusion of meritorious works. CHRIS MIKULA LSA SOPHOMORE Seeing the facts, it's hard to justify the death penalty TO THE DAILY: I commend the editors of the Daily for writing and publishing the Oct. 20 edito- rial "Death to the Penalty." By shifting the focus of the capital punishment debate away from mere moral rhetoric and instead insisting that the death penal- ty discriminates against certain racial groups, the article opened a new objec- tive debate on the issue. However, any sense of objectivity was lost on Erika Alea as evidenced by her poorly articu- lated response in favor of the death penalty. We should consider that fairness in the legal system hinges on a jury of the people who are subject to prejudices and misguidedness. Merely looking at the percentages of people currently on death row can create an illusion of fairnes If we, instead Yankees have bought another World Series. Others in the legal world question whether 0. J. Simpson bought his "note guilty" verdict by hiring an all-star defense team. Few of the inmates on death row had the luxury of getting such quality defense. Since 1900, 581 people have been executed and were later found to be inno- cent. Eighty-two convicted "killers" have been released due to overwhelming evi- dence of their innocence since 1973. If we consider the cost of the death penalty to the tax payer to be just the lost tax rev- 0 enue that the person would otherwise generate in the market, the cost for 105 innocent people exceeds $20 million by today's standards. On which side of the issue lies the financial burden to society? I appreciate a healthy debate about the issues facing the nation today. On issues that carry with them high moral price tags, an emphasis should be placed on an evaluation of facts. In a time of emotion- e al strife, I do not know how my views would change (although I hope they wouldn't). However, given my interpreta- tion of the facts, I cannot deny that the death penalty is unjust. KEN MASCHKE ENGINEERING SOPHOMORE -.,. _ v 147 Ro.Arn SG(f ' W*Cn4 C3 (1 5100OOPH Isoated Gales Act would prevent forced suicide TO THE DAILY: The Daily's editorial of Oct. 27, "Freedom from Pain," was disturbing, to say the least. Why anyone would prefer killing a suffering individual to healing that per- son is beyond me. The experts in the field of medicine0 have not come this far so that they can end the lives of the people who they are trying to cure. The Pain Relief Promotion Act will not infringe on the rights of individuals, it will enhance them. With the nacc or thisl eiltiinn