OPINION Page 6 Friday, June 5, 1987 The Michigan Daily 4 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. 4 W\ellit4 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 4 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.