OPINION
Page 6 Friday, June 5, 1987 The Michigan Daily
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97 Years of Editorial Freedom
Vol. XCVI - No. 5S
Unsigned editorials represent the majority views of the Daily's
Editorial Board. Cartoons and signed editorials do not
necessarily reflect the Daily's opinion.
Congratulations to teams, fans
Dare to succeed
DETROIT'S WINTER SPORTS
teams and their fans should be
proud of their accomplishments this
past season.
Under new coach Jacques
Demers, the Red Wings hockey
team did an about face in the space
of just one season. Called the Dead
Things by many hockey fans just a
year ago, the Red Wings went from
dead last in the 21-team league the
previous season to the semi-finals
of the playoffs this year. Only
when they met the Stanley Cup
champion Edmonton Oilers did the
Red Wings' fine season come to an
end.
The Pistons basketball team tied
a club record with 52 victories in a
season and advanced to the
conference finals before losing in
seven games to the reigning world-
champion Boston Celtics. Had
Piston Adrian Dantley not been
knocked unconscious while scram -
bling for the ball at the end of the
third quarter, the Pistons instead of
the Celtics might be playing the
Los Angeles Lakers for the world
championship.
Not to be outdone by their
teams, Detroit fans showed some
fine numbers of their own. The Red
Wings and Pistons each led their
leagues in attendance, setting all-
time league records. Detroit fans
always have had the reputation of
being among the most loyal, and
have attended in large numbers even
during poor seasons. But these were
not poor seasons.
The fine seasons gave Detroit
fans bragging rights - something
of their own to be proud of. Talk
around town, talk on TV and on
radio, and newspaper stories
centered on the accomplishments of
the Pistons and Red Wings, and not
on the negative aspects so often
thought of in conjunction with
Detroit. The media interviewed a
bubbly Demers, or a cherubic Isiah
Thomas, or showed film clips of
Pistons rookie Dennis Rodman
with his right arm thrust high in
the air following a slam dunk.
In just a couple months the
hockey and basketball seasons will
start again, and the Red Wings,
Pistons, and their fans can attempt
some more record-setting. Until
then, fans should remember what
Demers, Thomas, Rodman and the
others accomplished this past year.
I
WITH ITS decision to participate in
the Incentive Scholarship Program,
the University has taken a positive,
if small, step towards realizing its
minority recruitment goals.
The program is designed to help
promising but impoverished youth
eventually attend college. Two
eitghth-grade students each from 62
Detroit junior high schools are
selected for participation by Detroit
school superintendents and admini -
strators. These students agree to
make a good faith effort towards
meeting certain academic criteria, in
return for a four-year scholarship to
a participating Michigan university.
The University of Michigan, Ann
Arbor has promised to provide 20
such scholarships.
This program addresses two
problems which have for too long
gone unrecognized by the Univer -
sity. First is the problem of reten -
tion. For many years, universities
have recruited low-income minority
youth with "generous" first-year
scholarships only to reduce finan -
cial aid in following years. This
reduction in aid has often led to the
involuntary departure of qualified
students. Four-year scholarships
have been sought by concerned
activists to combat the high-rate of
minority attrition. This initial
move towards establishing four-year
scholarships is encouraging.
Also encouraging is the Uni -
versity's acceptance of responsibil -
ity as part of the larger educational
system. The substandard level of
grade-school education received by
minority students has often been
blamed for the failure to meet
minority recruitment goals. Until
now, the logical conclusion that the
University must do something
about improving grade-school
education in order to meet
recruitment goals has not been acted
upon in any significant fashion.
Yet, while the Incentive
Scholarship Program exhibits some
promising trends, we hope what is
promised are greater programs to
follow. Twenty students a year will
hardly be enough to counteract
years of neglect in integrating min -
orities. The Incentive Scholarship
Program demonstrates some initia -
tive, but a more comprehensive
program will be required if Michi -
gan's stated minority recruitment
goals are to be achieved.
One such program which merits
pursuit would involve the adoption
of "sibling schools." Rather than
selecting individuals who might
survive troubled schools, as the
Incentive Scholarship Program
does, an effective program must
deal with schools and the institu -
tional problems that afflict them.
Although two Incentive Scholar -
ship recipients in an entire class
may receive increased attention
from teachers - and hostility from
from less fortunate schoolmates;
the rest of the people interned,
teachers and students alike, remain
painfully conscious that high
school diplomas, without paper of a
greener shade, are powerless to open
university doors. Inner-city children
recognize their schools as
purgatories to be escaped as soon as
possible, partially accounting for a
dropout rate in excess of 60 percent.
A number of school districts
with high minority and low income
levels should be choosen. To
children of these districts it should
be made known that any of them
meeting a set and publicized
academic standard will be awarded a
four-year scholarship along with
their high school diploma. Such a
program would transform schools
from demoralizing prisons into
doorways of opportunity. For
children in the depths of poverty, an
extended hand with a scholarship is
a powerful incentive to grasp for
knowledge. At least in some areas,
the ideal of higher education for all.
who desire it, despite economic
disadvantage, can be established.
The initially-selected schools
could serve as examples for the rest
of the country and, in Michigan, as
prototypes for a expanding program
to meet minority recruitment goals.
A question that remains is where
the funding will come from. The
answer is that the Univerisity only
pays for the successes, those who
earn their scholarships. The real
question to be answered is whether
or not the University has the will
to succeed and honor its promises
of equitable minority representa-
tion.
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THE STATE LEGISLATURE IS
currently considering a bill put
forth by Perry Bullard which would
dismantle the ticket quota system.
This system is employed by police
to award "points" to police officers
for giving out tickets for infractions
such as unlawful parking or
speeding. The present quota system
used by many municipalities across
the state, including Ann Arbor, is
nonproductive since it does not
meet the needs of the people.
Bullard's bill is much needed,
particularly in Ann Arbor. Police
here are notorious for relentlessly
handing out tickets. They do this,
presumably, not because they are
obsessed, but because they must
meet a quota. In Ann Arbor, the
fact that a quota exists is somewhat
hidden among mathematical tables
delegating ticket responsibilities,
Ss no Park Place...
A
but it is undeniably a quota system.
Officers who give out few tickets,
can be reprimanded, assigned "dead"
beats, or ultimately fired. These
forms of "punishment" cause police
to give unnecessary attention to
minor infractions for purposes of
handing out tickets.
The passage of Bullard's bill
would give the police the
opportunity to investigate and
prevent more serious crimes than
parking and traffic violations. This
would be especially fruitful in Ann
Arbor where the police department
claims that it has a shortage of
personnel for controlling crime.
This bill would let the police
redirect their efforts to significant
crime problems rather than concern
themselves with giving out petty
tickets.
One objection to this bill is that
the quota system is an easy way to
make sure a police officer is really
working: if an officer does not
bring ina certain number of tickets,
it is judged that s/he was probably
slouching on the job This reason -
ing assumes that the maid job of an
officer is to give out tickets. This
is false. Our police should
investigate and prevent crime.
Progress on a particular case should 4
be reviewed when determining
whether police have been earning
their pay.
Perry Bullard's ticket quota bill
would relieve our police system
from duties which do not need to be
enforced so rigidly. This would free
officers to tend to other crime
problems. We would much rather
be protected from rapes, burglaries,
and assaults than marauding bandits 4
who exire rkinark mncr,
4
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Daily Photo by DANA MENDELSSOHN
The fervor of police officers in distributing parking tickets has led some to wonder who will protect Ann
Arborites from the police. Representative Perry Bullard may have an answer.