A 4A - The Michigan Daily - Thursday, December 6, 2001 OP/ED GThbe lskioan ]DZII1U 420 MAYNARD STREET ANN ARBOR, MI 48109 daily.letters@umich.edu EDITED AND MANAGED BY STUDENTS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN SINCE 1890 GEOFFREY GAGNON Editor in Chief MICHAEL GRASS NICHOLAS WOOMER Editorial Page Editors 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. NOTABLE QUOTABLE It is unthinkable for this gentleman." - Christopher Tennyson, a close business associate offormer Sotheby's chairman and University of Michigan benefactor A. Alfred Taubman facing a possible three-year prison sentence, as quoted by The Times of London. A New York court convictedTaubman ofprice-fixing yesterday. air,*-YniewV Ssr doi"4 h a o. t - e ut )fil wi J a1 C- I 6 Administrative incompetence is killing us JOSH WICKERHAM THIS L 'It WORLD 0 ec. I was World AIDS Day. I had signed up for a class on public protest art dedicated to raising aware- ness of the continuing HIV/AIDS crisis and we planned a panoply of actions that day. My class was interested in highlight- ing the impact of AIDS on artists - one of the hardest-hit demographics - by participating in the Day Without Art, a day when public art of all sorts is "disappeared" to evoke images of a world where AIDS has run rampant. In our research, we discovered that we're not far from a world on par with this kind of devastation, mostly because of administrative incompetence on all levels. The first level was here at the University. For this, the 13th annual Day Without Art, we were ambitious enough to think big and plan well enough ahead to go through the hoops that the University sets up for doing anything out of the ordinary with their public sculptures. We planned on covering three public works: The famous Cube, that triple ton rotating thingam- abob was to be tied down and immobilized; a sculpture on North Campus was to be blocked from view; and Daedalus, the mythic Greek god in front of the Museum of Art, was to be shrouded in a wall of white cloth with donated Carnations pinned to it. To minimize the risk of our obstructions being taken down, we sat, dia- grams in hand and laid out plans for the Occu- pational Safety and Health Administration-trained, trip-hazard-weary bureaucrats in the Fleming Administration fortress. Dictate one: No more than three sculp- tures may be covered up. "We don't want things to get out of hand." Dictate two: "You can't obstruct the plaza around the Cube. That's a very high-traffic area." What they meant: Administrators shouldn't have to walk an extra 10 feet out of their way on their way to lunch. Dictate three: You must have the grounds crew with you at all times so they can "help you." For a moment after the administrative dance began, we thought that perhaps we should have just gone ahead with our plans sans support from the powers that be. Nah, we thought. They'll be reasonable. At least our project won't be taken down. So Friday, the day before Dec. 1 came and we set up the installations. We roped the Cube, as approved, and marked the small unobtrusive area with big signs that read, "STOP! Please do not spin the Cube. Dec. 1 is the Day Without Art. We ask you to respect the memory of those artists who have died of AIDS and allow the cube to remain immobilized this day." So I go to sleep Friday night somewhat concerned that the sail-like fabric around Daedalus will blow away, or that some hoodlum will try to spin the Cube - because it would have moved without much effort. To my sur- prise, I found neither had happened on Saturday. Instead, someone had "disappeared" our ropes, signs and various effects from the Cube. And the someones involved? None other than our very own Department of Public Safety. Not only did DPS remobilize the Cube because it posed a "tripping hazard," but because they said they had not been informed by the administra- tion that the project had been approved. Stated clearly enough was the purpose behind the installation, which was printed on the signs they threw away. Also clearly marked was our con- tact information, which they did not use to try to contact us. Not only was their indiscriminate clean-up duty an affront to the memory of those artists who have died of or are living with AIDS, but something that calls for an apology to the students at this University, whose money was being spent to bring attention to the Day Without Art and the immense challenges in dealing with the AIDS pandemic. This crap could have been avoided had DPS made a phone call instead of taking matters into its own hands. Though I've the inkling to rage against the inept public safety minions, the real faulty par- ties are the tight-holed administrators in Flem- ing who didn't make the right phone calls to prevent this kind of bullshit. There we were, playing by the rules and with no significant results. It's as if to get anything done right around here, we just have to abandon the rules, especially when the AIDS crisis is as much a threat to our global security as ever. Administra- tive incompetence on the national level is to blame for this problem. In Africa, for example, where the AIDS crisis should be an integral part of our foreign policy, Bush did his part by blocking the manufacture of generic AIDS drugs in international patent courts. Effectively declaring corporate profits more important than human life, Bush ignores the long-term impact of the scourge of AIDS in Africa. In countries like South Africa and Swaziland, entire generations of teachers, busi- nessmen, artists and farmers are being wiped out. This destroys not only potential target audi- ances for U.S. corporations (an argument I despise) but unsettles the region by wiping out an entire civilization. The same goes in China and India, where the governments there are only beginning to rec- ognize the immensity of the AIDS problem. In Eastern Europe, prostitution is spreading the disease at ever-increasing rates. And even here in the U.S., the elderly have one of the fastest- growing rates of HIV infection, mostly because of Viagra use. Their rate of infection is being edged out only by married women - many in the inner city - who, according to University demographic studies, are infected by infidelitous husbands who bring the danger home. In the college demographic, people 25 or under are being infected with AIDS at the rate of one per hour and worldwide 300 people die from AIDS- related complications every hour. And even more startling is the fact that of the close to one million infected with HIV in this country, one third are unaware that they are carrying the virus. Calling AIDS one of his "top priorities" dur- ing his campaign, President George W. Bush has done his part by cutting the federal allot- ment on AIDS spending. And though we're fighting a war against terrorism, anthrax has killed four and AIDS has already killed tens of millions. Why was it OK for Bush to threaten to take Bayer to court for the inflated price of its anthrax drug Cipro while ignoring AIDS suffer- ers in Africa? Are we intentionally allowing an entire generation to be wiped out or do we just not care? This is racism in practice. If we are to beat this pandemic, we've got to stop treating our inner cities like third world nations and our third world counterparts like their lives are expendable. Reappropriating budgets to cmbat AIDS at a local level would be a start. Respond- ing to the threat of AIDS at home and abroad requires commitment to community-based edu- cation. It's either this or we'll soon find our- selves suffering the same human damages that have become the norm in Africa. It took Presi- dent Reagan eight years - until the end of his terms-to even let the word "AIDS" pass his lips. We cannot allow HIV/AIDS to slip our atten- tion once again. In this case, ignorance really does kill. Y IN PASSING 401 (K)OULDN'T It's hard not to gloat when a pompous, exploitive and Texas-based energy conglom- erate goes down in a ball of petrochemical flames. Enron's stock plummeted from a high of over $80 per share to its Monday close of under a dollar. Unfortunately, you won't see Enron chairman Kenneth Lay begging on State Street. Instead it will be the company's employees who suffer the consequences of poor executive decisions. The largest bankruptcy in history did not happen by accident. Rather it was the result of mismanagement and foolish expansion policies. However, in an attempt to hide these. weaknesses, Enron's executives misrepresent- ed $586 million in debts and lied to creditors in order to inflate stock value. Once it became publicly apparent that Enron suffered from critical financial problems, the stock col- lapsed. While Enron's corporate board sold off their shares, employees saw their retirement savings evaporate as they were prohibited from divesting their 401(k) plans of Enron shares. In light of these facts Enron's high command should not escape reprieves. The coming federal investigation should seriously consider fining executives in order to recoup worker's lost 401(k) plans. Enron's 21,000 employees deserve nothing less. - Zac Peskowitz and Jess Piskor U.S. MUST EVALUATE ITS BEST STRATEGY FOR SECOND PHASE Now that our military efforts have virtual- ly ousted the Taliban from Afghanistan, our government and public seems to believe that the next logical course of action in this "war against terrorism" is to remove Saddam Hus- sein from power in Iraq. Whereas this may prove a strategic move in the overall picture, our government must carefully evaluate its bset srteies. Removing Hussein from power is a bene- ficial move if our government can do so with- out dramatically impacting the lives of the Iraqi citizens. Our government should use military intelligence to discover the most pro- ficient and precise method of removing this despot and should avoid all confrontation with civilians. This is, after all, a battle with terrorism, not with any particular state. The worst-case scenario would be if our government decides to deal with potential threats in Iraq in the same way that it dealt with potential threats in Afghanistan. It is not possible to use wide-scale aerial and terrestri- al military force without affecting the people of that particular country. Doing so would also disenfranchise and anger these citizens, only adding to the anti-American sentiment already predominant in Iraq. By imposing ourselves upon their territory, we would ulti- mately be adding to the terrorist's numbers, throwing ourselves in a neverending battle and intensifyingthe same reasons as to why the U.S. is already disliked in that region. Our government must also consider what will happen if our military is successful in overthrowing Hussein and how the Iraqi peo- ple will react to such a change. The U.S. gov- ernment has much to consider when planning our next course of action. Ultimately, Hussein should be removed from power, but his removal should be done in a swift, precise, and exact manner. It must be reiterated that this war is with terrorists, terrorist groups and governments that support terrorists; not with any specific country. A full-scale war and military effort will not work to this country's benefit. One cannot remove a tumor with a butcher's knife. - Garrett Lee In Passing views are those of individual members of the Daily's editorial board, and do not necessarily represent the opinion of The Michigan Daily. Josh Wickerham can be reached via e-mailjwickerh@umich.edu. 0 V LETTERS TO THE EDITOR * Raiji unfairly turns affirmative action into black, white issue To THE DAILY: Once again I am baffled. I just don't get it and I need the enlightenment of our omnipotent white community. I pose this question: If the use of race in admissions benefited whites (the majority race) would you still be against it? Affirmative action is not a black and white issue as many people, including Manish Raiji ("The liberal right turn," 12/5/01) would lead you to believe. The University is 26 percent minority and only 7 percent of the enrollment is black. Is this a false sense of diversity? Every affirmative action law I have read has said "under-represented minority" not "poor black people." Native Americans, Hispanics, Africans, Asians - all people of color are benefited by affirmative action. The only thing that is miss- ing is white, so I guess that makes it unlawful. And what is the meaning of unlawful. Is it the slaughter and genocide of millions of Native Americans? Is it the kidnapping and enslavement of millions of Africans? Is it the enactment of legal segregation? Is it the system- atic prosecution and execution of many innocent Hispanics and Blacks? Many people would like to forget that these things ever happened in the United States but they are as much a part of America today as they ever were. People say that the only people that benefit from affirmative action are the upper- class blacks and other minorities, well let me assure everyone that is highly untrue. And how do you think some of those upper-class people got to where they are today? Affirmative action niwmnvnnth nnr t n i- n ity t . henk th or lawful if your skin is not white. And now white people have what'some of you see as an "unlawful and unfair" pill to swallow. Well ask some of your "diversified" student body how to swallow it. We've been doing it for hundreds of years. (Also let me personally apologize to Raiji and his med school-bound friend. I am sorry if your friend doesn't get into medical school. If it would help, next time you can tell him to call me. I'll introduce him to my family. I'll take him to my family reunion in Mississippi. There's tons of black folks there. That'll get him in for sure.) KENYA HUNTER LSA sophomore Raiji's column deserves high praise To THE DAILY: I applaud Manish Raiji for his column ("The liberal right turn" 12/5/01) examining the real problem that affirmative action was created to fix: A lack of opportunity in higher education for those not up to the "upper-middle-class" level of most students at the University. This being a serious problem, there should be a pro- gram to combat this, but blindly giving out points based onethnicity is not the best way to go about it. Instead, it is the simplest way; it's easy for an admissions officer to give a few points based simply on skin color. If they need- ed to throw financial hardship and quality of inner-city high schools into the mix, that would be somewhat more difficult. God forbid that those who design and implement our admissions policies be faced with a little hardship of their own, but if we have an affirmative admissions to explain away openly racist admissions poli- cies. JOHN HARVEY Engineering sophomore Editorial cartoon 'very, offensive' TO THE DAILY: I would just like to let the Daily know that I found Chip Cullen's editorial cartoon about Israeli and Palestinian relations yesterday very offensive. I don't find any humor in the situation of a country that is being torn apart by violence. I find no humor in the constant loss of life due to this situation. I feel that if innocent Americans were murdered daily, your paper would not publish such cartoons about devastating crisis in the United States. There were no jokes being made three months ago after America's tragedy, and I don't think it is appropriate to mock the situa- tions of other countries. OREN GOLDENBERG LSA freshman Daily squelches. Palestinian views TO THE DAILY: Can the Daily please be a little more bias toward supporting Israel's position in regard to the Palestinian-Israeli issue? Can you please be more sure that we never read about the Palestinian deaths in the West Bank, Gaza, and in Israel? Can you nlease ensure