OPINION

The Michigan Daily
012 t 113 t ut-l
Vol. XCV, No. 39-S
95 Years of Editorial Freedom
Managed and Edited by Students at
The University of Michigan
Editorials represent a majority opinion of the
Doily Editorial Board
Strike two
T HE OLD ball park may be quiet and empty in about
two weeks. The Major League Players Association
has threatened to call a strike if an agreement with the
owners is not reached by August 6. Players are upset at the
owners for trying to place a lid on salaries. On the other
side, the owners do not want to keep the current television
revenue sharing plan in place. This plan allows for one-
third of television revenues to be put in the union's pension
and benefit fund.
The bottom line of the dispute is money and who gets it.
The union hired Roger Noll, an economist from Stanford
University, and he reports that the ball clubs are healthy
financially and made money last year. He reports that
most of the teams are owned for tax shelter purposes or as
a promotional tool for television stations or breweries. The
owners argue that they lost money last year and will not
survive if players salaries continue to escalate.
A strike would be devastating to everyone who enjoys
the game and who make a living from it. The strike in 1981,
that asted 50 days, cost $144 million in lost revenues.
The average baseball salary now sits at about $300,000
per year. The salaries of baseball players do not need to go
up anymore.
Many owners and players would like to see baseball
commissioner Peter Ueberroth act as an arbitrator, but
his power is limited. He can only control the owners, not
the ball players.
The game of baseball has lost much of its nostalgia to
corporate ball players and corporate owners who care
more about profit than the community where the club is
located or the game itself.
The owners and the players association must meet and
work an agreement out. If they can not come to an
agreement, then turn over the dispute to arbitration. A
stike will solve nothing and will only cause more problems
in the end.
IS
Letters to the Daily should be typed,
triple-spaced, and signed by the in-
dividual authors. Names will be withheld
only in unusual circumstances. Letters
may be edited for clarity, grammar, and
spelling.

Friday, July 26, 1985
LETTERS TO THE DAILY

Page 5

II

Orientation staff is open and honest
To the Daily: MSA and LASC would take the time to Our staff is selected, in part, based
I found your article on the get to know the Orientation Leaders on their extra-curricular activities
dissemination of information within and to find out what sort of infor- while students here at the University.
the Orientation Program very in- mation they give out rather than This includes participation in
teresting (Daily, Orientation Policy spending their time complaining numerous groups and organizations
Stirs Controversy, July 24). It would about "censorship." on campus including LASC, Interfaith
be nice if representatives from both Council for Peace, Human Sexuality
Coordinator is needed now Office,ah C Ca
WAgainst Apartheid, Student Alumni
To the Daily: something is done? I am tired of Council, Interfraternity Council,
I was disappointed by the Thur- waiting for the University to help Panhellenic Association, Peace
sday, July 18 editorial concerning the students. The Sexual Assault Studies Program, University Council,
Sexual Assault Awareness and Awareness and Prevention Center and East Quad Nuclear Education
Prevention Center. never would have been started if Council, just to name a few.
How can you say, "there is no sense studens hadn't taken the initiative. A coor- As a student leader last year I was
in demanding the University hire a dinator should begin immediately if more than willing to share my beliefs
coordinator right now because by we intend to address the issue in the about the University and the Univer-
doing that we might be cheating our- expedient manner required. sity environment with the incoming
selves out of a good coordinator."? Obviously, we want to get someone students. Certain segments of our
Sexual assault is a crime of crisis who is well-suited and qualified for program are designed to facilitate
proportions and merits immediate the position, but we cannot spend the discussions on these topics,
action. It does not matter how big and next year waiting for that person to specifically the Student Life Meeting.
bureaucratic this University is. If come along. Furthermore, there are a As one of the coordinators for the
men and women are being sexually large number of people both here in Student Program this year I en-
assaulted on this campus, and they Ann Arbor and across the state who courage our leaders to be open and
are, then the University should take would be qualified for this position, honest with the students. The purpose
action, We must hire someone at the earliest of the OrientationProgram is not to
Various departments within the possible date and start the preven- mislead students, but rather to help
University have been discussing the tative and educational programming them adjust to a new environment
problem of safety and sexual assault that this community so desperately and to make the transition from high
for many years. If we sit back and let needs. We can wait no longer. We school to college as smooth as
them go through the motions, how must take action now. possible. If we wanted to present our
many more years will it take for -Jennifer Faigel information in an "M GO BLUE"
anything concrete to be accom- Acting Chairperson, MSA fashion we would have recruited
plished? How many more people will Women's Issues Committee cheerleaders, not hired and trained
be sexually assaulted before July 18 Orientation Leaders.
If LASC or MSA have any
Cartoon perpetuates anger suggestions regarding changes that
they feel would make our program
To the Daily: would be refreshing if The Michigan more "balanced" we are more than
On July 10, I looked at the political Daily could be brave and creative willing to listen.
cartoon on page 5 and I cringed, rather than perpetuating the same old -Paul McNaughton
because I thought that I had been hatreds and anger. -Alan Potter Program Coordinator
transported to Moscow, Teheran, July 11 July 24


Tripoli, or even back to Nazi-
Germany. Certainly it is only in those
places where I would expect to find O Rt1EDp
obscene anti-American and anti- A IRP
Jewish cartoons in a student g4 I ?
newspaper. I assume that it is the job O W
of your paper to be informative, C r
provocative, and definitely con-
troversial, but not anti-Semitic. If the
editors of The Michigan Daily are BUGT
trying to publish a paper to stir upwR
animosity and hatred against a
specific religion, they should be given
the highest possible grade. On the ButP ED
other hand, if the editors are working
to enhance their skills at becoming 2cot5rPA , _
responsible journalists, they are a 75"tA
disgusting failure.
Everyone knows -that the Middle ~_ -;-", , . -
East is a difficult tangle, and placing
blame can serve no useful nurnose. It

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