bE eidijgta iatIg
Ninety-eight years of editorial freedom
Non-Profit Org.
U.S. POSTAGE
PAID
Ann Arbor, MI
PERMIT NO. 13
Vol. XCVIIINo. 13S Ann Arbor, Michigan--Friday, August 12, 1988y
Alleged anti-gay acts spur protest
300 rally a
;ai
rst police
BY ANNA SENKEVITCH They criticized the officers
Nearly 300 angry, chanting Ann initially refusing to pursue the ne
Arbor citizens and visitors turned out by attacker, not asking the victim
in front of the Nectarine Ballroom she wanted medical assistance, and
last Tuesday evening to protest alleg- portedly laughing to one anot
edly discriminatory behavior by city while conducting the on-scene inv
police officers against lesbians and tigation.
gay men. In a brief speech, Julie Steit
The demonstration was motivated director of the Sexual Assault I
by a July 27 assault and battery, in vention and Awareness Center,s
which a woman was verbally and the fault does not lie exclusiv
physically attacked outside the Nec- with the police. She insisted the
tarine and the Tower Plaza apartment tire community must challenge s
complex because her assailant be- ist, racist, and homophobic behav
lieved she was a lesbian. The protesters afterward mare
Protest organizers Linda Kurtz of past Tower Plaza apartments an
the Lesbian and Gay Rights Organiz- police department headquarters.
ing Committee and University grad- The group presented a list
uate student Patti Myers told the demands, as duty commander Cap
crowd police officers Scott Selley and Paul Bunten listened, to the po
Lieutenant Harold Tinsey handled the department and the city of Ann
incident negligently because the vie- bor. They included:
tim told them she was attacked as a -police consistency in dea]
result of her sexual orientation. with assault victims;
"We will not tolerate having our -educating the community
rights violated because we are lesbi- creating anti-violence task forces.
ans, because we are gay men," Myers publishing statistics on prejud
said. See Police, Page
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4
Stop deputization
openp
An open letter to Washtenaw County Sheriff Ronald Schebil:
University President Robben W. Fleming has asked you to
deputize two campus security officers and authorize them with the
power of arrest. As University students and Ann Arbor residents,
the members of Michigan Daily's editorial board are concerned
about this request. We believe University control of county deputies
would lead to civil rights violations within the University
community and would exacerbate rather than solve the various
problems created by acts of student protest, which Fleming
identifies as the central reason for deputization.
Under the existing arrangement, the rules of conduct at the
University are subject to agreement between the students, faculty
and administrators. Under the new arrangement, the accountability
of the University government to the community would be
weakened. Deputization of campus security would eliminate
important checks and balances within the legal system.
Fleming has said that deputized security are necessary because
"once we ask the police to intervene, we no longer have any direct
control over how the situation is handled." We are confident you
will agree that justice is not served by University control over law
enforcement.
Tellingly, Fleming's request to you coincides with a directive to
the new President to draft "such rules of conduct and enforcement
procedures as are necessary" to control student disruption.
University rules and state laws are not the same. Yet the officers
deputized under your authority would be charged with enforcing
both sets of regulations. We fear the University administration
desires to control the power of arrest for its own ends rather than
enforcing the laws of the state of Michigan.
As the elected official in charge of law enforcement for the county,
you must be troubled by the University's distrust of civil and
criminal law and Fleming's stated desire to avoid "resorting to" the
criminal justice system. For these reasons, we ask that you join us
in opposing deputization of University personnel.
-The Michigan Daily
JOHN MUNSON/Daily
University students and Ann Arbor citizens protest the failure of two Ann Arbor
Police Department officers to pursue the assailant of a woman allegedly because the
victim was a lesbian.