4 - The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, January 14, 2004 OP/ED U~~Ije £ttblij&41v 420 MAYNARD STREET ANN ARBOR, MI 48109 letters@michigandaily.com opinion. michigandaily.com EDITED AND MANAGED BY STUDENTS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN SINCE 1890 LoUIE MEIZLISH Editor in Chief AUBREY HENRETTY ZAC PESKOWITZ 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 If I could take it back, I would take it back." - Former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill, on comments he made in a new book, which describes President Bush's performance in Cabinet meetings as a, blind man in a room of deaf people, "as reported yesterday by The Associated Press. SAM BUTLER THE SOAPBOX -I 44 6 * 5~o cxp flr* 0 0 Waiting for Connerly (A play in three acts) ARI PAUL I FOUGHT TIHE LAW he drama continued on Monday, when Ward Connerly, the leader of the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative, announced the beginning of the campaign to get a proposal on a statewide ballot in November to end affirmative action in higher education. And what a drama this has been. In Act One, years of debate on our cam- pus led to a victory at the U.S. Supreme Court last summer. The united front for inte- gration was enormous. Labor groups, civil rights groups and the deans of the top law schools stood on our side. Even traditionally conservative groups like the corporate com- munity filed amicus briefs in support of the University. We all thought that the court's word and the large and diverse coalition in defense of integration would have given the small, dogmatic opposition the final good- bye. But those kids just couldn't stay put. In Act Two, Connerly, the University of California regent who ended affirmative action in state schools there (which would mark the beginning of the UC system's decline not only in minority enrollment, but in prestige in the professional circles of high- er education), ventured to our state at the beginning of the academic year to put a pro- posal on the ballot to end affirmative action. While conservative students embraced the MCRI, Connerly's band emerged on the scene relatively friendless. The state Republi- can Party and the corporate community want- ed nothing to do with this. Why? While the Republicans supported the MCRI ideologi- cally, they knew that affirmative action is such a divisive issue that the party's involve- ment could hand Michigan to the Democrats this November. And right here at intermission time is when the plot thickens. The Ann Arbor News reported that "Connerly is being sued in Cali- fornia for keeping secret the names of people who donated to his nonprofit group called the American Civil Rights Coalition." What does he have to hide? If corporations and Republi- can leadership aren't helping him, are there groups more extreme willing to foot the bill? So not only is the GOP wary of the MCRI because of the political repercussions it could face in the election, but the party has issues with being aligned with a potentially crooked and extremist agitator. But some state GOP members have broken ranks with the conciliatory leader- ship. State Rep. Jack Hoogendyk (R-Kala- mazoo), who berates the University every year on the House floor for offering a class on homosexuality, threw in his support. Rep. Joe Hune (R-Fowlerville), who repre- sents the state's rights and anti-govern- ment stronghold of Howell, is standing with Connerly. The Republican Rep. John Paster of Livonia, the whitest city in America among those over 100,000, is also on the bandwagon. So we are left here at the beginning of Act Three, when Connerly has only until July 6 to get 317,757 signatures on his petition. While Connerly and his clan have twisted the meaning of the 14th Amend- ment to make themselves sound like egali- tarians, let us paint a picture of how the duration of this drama will unfold. Michigan is a politically bipolar state. We have the labor left and the black, urban poor in Detroit and the progressive haven of Ann Arbor. Then there is the militia hotbed of northern Michigan and the social conser- vatism of Grand Rapids. Will the MCRI be petitioning on Cass Avenue or will it be going door to door in the affluent, mostly white Oakland County? Will Connerly's peti- tion reflect the opinion of Howell and Livo- nia or of Highland Park and Benton Harbor? Without assistance from the state GOP and financial support from corporate donors, the MCRI will have to pander to the worst aspects of white conservatism and elitism if it wants to get its proposal on the ballot. Connerly could very well have his way; he could get enough signatures and win the question on the ballot, thus claim- ing a democratic victory. But there will be no question where his support will be com- ing from. Connerly insists that his goals champion equality, but if he wins we will have a white, conservative electorate telling the minority, urban poor of Michigan what is in their best interests. While some anti-affirmative action pro- ponents may honestly not believe that their goals are this racist, the truth is that political- ly and practically speaking, this is what the MCRI will have to do in order to achieve vic- tory, thus proving how dangerous Connerly is to the ideal of racial equality. Paul can be reached at' aspaul@umich.edu. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR 40 U working to improve Wolverine Access, welcomes student input TO THE DAILY: Using Wolverine Access on Jan. 6, this term's first day of classes, was a frustrating experience for students, staff and faculty. The University of Michigan's Administrative Information Services (MAIS) worked contin- uously through the day to correct problems and will continue to monitor the system through the end of this drop/add period. By 6 p.m., Wolverine Access was functioning reli- ably, and by midnight, two-thirds of the stu- dent drop/add activity expected for the first day of classes was completed. While our goal is to sustain a yearly average of 99 per- cent Wolverine Access availability and the average for the last two years is 98.7 percent, performance during important peak periods has not consistently met our standard. In response to the recent problems and to Friday's editorial on Wolverine Access ('U' should drop changes, 01/09/03), it's helpful to understand the changes to Wolverine Access that are scheduled for February 2004. A major upgrade to the M-Pathways Student Administration and Human Resource Man- agement systems will take place in February. This upgrade is intended to address perfor- mance and reliability issues and to simplify system support. It significantly changes the underlying technology, including the Wolverine Access architecture, which MAIS has tested for peak usage and has configured to handle peak loads. We expect that this change will position us better to address the performance issues experienced to date and to achieve our goal of 99% availability. In addition, there are changes to the user interface and some new features will be added. The front page allows for more announcements, and users will be able to accept or decline financial aid, complete and sign Perkins Promissory Notes and view pay- checks and financial aid disbursements. The upgrade also sets the stage for additional enhancements that will benefit students, staff and faculty in the future. MAIS welcomes suggestions for other ways to improve Wolverine Access and the other services we provide, and we encourage dialog with those who wish to discuss ideas and exolore methods to achieve these off most of the editorials and political car- toons as the usual liberal drivel that I've come to expect from the Daily. However, this Tuesday's cartoon went far beyond typi- cal liberalism, beyond Bush-bashing and way beyond common sense itself. Somehow the cartoonist believes that our own American soldiers are deliberately and purposefully killing innocent children as members of Sad- dam's former regime did. Not only is this stupid, it's downright ignorant. This is bla- tant anti-Americanism by someone who clearly has no idea what is actually happen- ing over in Iraq. The Daily should be ashamed that they actually published a car- toon that is so clearly slanderous to our brave troops, who are serving around the world right now. Colin Daly has gone far beyond just disagreeing with the current administra- tion; he is guilty, of treason. CHRIS JOSEPH Engineering senior 'U' should be held to higher level of budget accountability TO THE DAILY: In order to maintain the quality of edu- cation that students expect from the Uni- versity, we should all hold the University administration to higher budget account- ability. Friday's editorial (Who funds high- er ed?, 01/9/04) asking the state government to toss moremoney to the University failed to acknowledge several points. First, the University has been known for profligate spending for some time now. Who hasn't questioned the flat-screen tele- visions in such useless places as the Post- ing Wall of Mason Hall, the Union information desk and the lobby of the Central Campus Recreation Building (which of all things, shows movie trail- ers)? Or the new screens for all the Macin- tosh computers in the Fishbowl? Instead of wasting money on such projects, why doesn't the University concentrate on the programs they are now threatening to cut? Second, why not pursue an alumni dona- tion campaign? The notion that public uni- versities are not able to achieve the same level of alumni funding as private universi- .. . ,. ,. . . ly, giving students the education their tuition pays for. LAURA DAVIS Co-chair, Young Americans for Freedom Clark's voting record a reflection of his integrity, lack of partisanship TO THE DAILY: In a recent piece on Wesley Clark (The General, 01/12/04), it was mentioned that Clark has faced criticism for his alignment with the Democratic Party. Students for Dean Chair Ramya Raghavan was quoted as say- ing, "I respect General Clark in that he's very good in international relations, but I don't necessarily trust someone who voted for Nixon and Reagan. I guess when it comes down to it though I'd really like to see a Dean/Clark ticket. I think that would be very strong." However, an explanation of Clark's voting record was not presented in the arti- cle. As a Clark supporter, I feel it is neces- sary to respond to this matter. Clark demonstrates that he is both non- partisan and moderate by voting for Nixon and Reagan. He has said that he voted for them because they were strong on defense. This does not imply that he should not be in the Democratic Party. I am a Democrat, but I have voted for Republicans. And that is a good thing. You should vote for the person you believe is the best candidate, regardless of their party affiliation. I would also like to note that Clark has repeatedly stated that he will not be anyone's vice president. PATRICK MACNAMARA Engineering sophomore 4 0 4 LETTERS POLICY The Michigan Daily welcomes letters from all of its readers. Letters from Universi- ty students, faculty, staff and administrators will be given priority over others. Letters should include the writer's name, college and school year or other University affiliation. The Daily will not print any letter contain- ing statements that cannot be verified. Letters should be kept to approximately ( th~at 'ix .rsi r in'i rV a f ni-i oiras 1 Beautiful Zasl t na ' un I a