OPINION Page 4 Friday, July 29, 1988 The Michigan Daily August 2 primaries: Vote f4 THE DAILY ENDORSES DEAN Baker for congress, Nancy Francis for circuit court judge, Janis Bobrin for drain commissioner and Andrea Walsh for county commissioner in the August 2 primaries. In the congressional race, Dean Baker, who holds a Ph.D. in eco- nomics from the University, is op- posed by State Senator Lana Pol- lack. Baker has run a grassroots campaign, spending only $10,000. Pollack, however, has spent $200,000, much of which comes from powerful, wealthy individuals and political action committees outside the district. This leaves Pollack's accountability to her own district in question because of all the "outside" support she has gar- nered. Until petitioned, Pollack re- fused to participate in candidate fo- rums. Baker openly advocates gay and lesbian rights, vowing to support or progressive candidates legislation in this area, whatever cal agenda and awakening a deeply who were arrested while protesting dumpers who profit through endan- the political risk. Pollack has de-politicized populace. If elected, contra aid at the office of Carl gering public health. stated, "My sexual orientation is of he will challenge traditional party- Pursell), Francis uses her legal Janis Bobrin, however, couples the majority's kind. Gay and les- line thinking. skills to promote justice. As judge, conviction and outrage with clearly bian rights simply are not on my Nancy Francis deserves the vot- Francis promises equal treatment thought-out procedures for locating agenda" ers' support for Judge of Washte- for all, regardless of income or po- and eliminating non-point source Baker is the only candidate with a naw County Circuit Court. Francis litical standing. pollution and identifying illegal viable plan to cut the military bud- and her family have a long history If the position of county drain sewer hook-ups. Her leadership at get and fund social programs. Baker commissioner were renamed the East Michigan Environmental insists the United States pressure Protector of the People's Water, Review Board has prepared her well Israel to respect the rights of Pales- perhaps voters would take the post for tangling with formidable corpo- tinians. Pollack, on the other hand, more seriously. And they should. rate opposition. has pledged unquestioned support to With over 1500 known toxic waste Andrea Walsh, a recent Univer- the state of Israel - which cur- y"sites in the state, Michigan resi- rently receives $3 billion a year dents consume a frightening array from the United States. of contaminants with every glass of It is unfortunate that Baker must -. water. Pesticide run-off from farm conduct his campaign within the fields, toxic chemicals poured into Democratic party, a political ma- storm sewers, radioactive waste chine which has a long history of dumping, overflowing and leaking complicity in the kinds of crimes Second district Congres- landfills - all these fall under the and injustices which Baker sincerely sional candidate Dean Baker. jurisdiction of the Washtenaw pledges to work against. But Baker of involvement in issues of social County drain commissioner. is to be commended, as is Jesse justice. She is the daughter of Ann To his credit, the previous com- Jackson, for broadening the politi- Arbor's first and only Black mayor, missioner, Jim Murray, expanded i Vol. XCVIII- No. 1IS Albert Wheeler, and long-time community activist Emma Wheeler. Francis has practiced law for over 13 years in Michigan. She has served as staff attorney and director of Model Cities Legal Services, Inc., an agency serving low and moderate income people. Francis represents progressive social change. By representing low income people and political ac- tivists (for example, the 118 people 'U' dolt, the responsibilities of his post to include research and advocacy as well as enforcement. Only two of the four candidates indicate they are willing to carry on this pro-active stand: Bob Hubbard and Janis Bo- brin. Hubbard, a science teacher, has led the grassroots fight to keep toxic and radioactive wastes out of Augusta Township. He brings to his candidacy a healthy sense of citizen's outrage toward rapacious sity graduate, is running unopposed for Washtenaw County Commis- sioner. Walsh's committment to the democratic process, as evidenced by her door-to-door canvassing to get out the vote, is encouraging. Additionally, she has been involved in many community services. Unsigned editorials represent the majority views of the Daily's Editorial Board. Cartoons and signed editorials do not necessarily reflect the Daily's opinion. Deputizing IF ANYONE EVER WONDERS whether University admin- istrators feel anything but utter disdain for student rights and democratic process, last week's regents meeting should cast aside all doubts. In one fell swoop, a new protest policy - devised by In- terim President Robben Fleming and approved by the regents - removes all vestiges of student input into University deci- sion-making about student behavior; transfers power over the standards of such behavior to the University president; and be- stows deputy status, licenses for firearms, and handcuffs upon campus security. Before this historic regents meeting, Fleming issued a memorandum calling for the suspension and/or abolition of Bylaw 7.02, which mandates the existence of the University Council. The U-Council was made up of students, faculty and administration officials and stood as the only organization on campus legally mandated to create University conduct policies. The Council suspended itself last term after failing to agree on a given set of conduct rules - in no small part because the student members refused to saddle their peers with an authori- tarian code which could potentially infringe on students' First Amendment rights. Fleming has no such qualms. At the regents meeting, Fleming called for and got the power for the president to enact any rules he sees fit to create. Fleming based this shift of power on Bylaw 2.01, which gives the president "general power" to do anything deemed necessary for the "maintenance of health, diligence and order among students." Maintaining health, diligence and order sounds more like the motto of a forced labor camp than a guiding philosophy for life in a free academic community. Clearly, however, such concerns do not bother the regents, who were more than will- ing to agree with Fleming's interpretation. The creation of a campus militia, complete with handcuffs and powers of arrest, is especially ominous. Fleming's claim that this empowerment of campus security will decrease the kinds of abuse student protestors previously suffered at the hands of city police is a sick joke. First, the beating of Harold Marcuse by campus security during a CIA protest last fall, witnessed by several bystanders, is proof that the Ann Arbor police do not have the exclusive corner on violent abuse of student demonstrators. Marcuse's lawsuit against campus security officers and the Board of Re- gents for physical and emotional damages is still pending. Second, the need for University officials to call in the police during a protest situation, in order to make arrests, provided a very important time lag between the diagnosis of a crisis and the implementation of law enforcement. Many times during demonstrations and protests, this time lag served as a cooling off period for all parties or for a period of reflection and re- assessment for the protesters. This allowed for informed and revised choices as to the appropriateness of civil disobedience or other measures. Without this time lag, an important check and balance is gone. More violence and more abuse - not less - is the likely outcome of security deputization. Third, the mere presence of law enforcement officials at controversial lectures or other events stifles freedom of speech. The protest policy claims to respect the right of audience Ann Arbor police arrest an anti-CIA protester at the SAB. members to express dissenting views, but the intimidation factor alone restricts free speech even if no arrests are made. Fleming's protest policy is flawed from the start. The real policy that needs to be drawn up is one that would regulate the kinds of activities that spark legitimate protest. As long as the University unrolls the red carpet for international terrorists (the CIA), their inflammatory apologists (Jeane Kirkpatrick, George Bush) and the engineers of their technology (military researchers), there will be those who follow the obligations of their conscience - regardless of what enforcement measures are codified by doltish administrators.