Wednesday, June 10, 1992 - The Michgan Daily Summer Weekly - 5
Letters
Ad&L '
Cliff's Notes - an
insider's view
To the Daily:
I feel compelled to inform the Uni-
versity of Michigan student body about
therealities surrounding theremovalof
the Cliff's Notes from the Residence
Hall Libraries. During the Fall 1991
term,asmallnumberofEnglishfaculty
members and Academic Advisors initi-
ated action. One English professor sent
a letter to the Director of the Residence
Hall Libraries expressing her disap-
proval of the material. In response, the
Director composedacommitteeto dis-
cuss the issue.
I acted as the representative for the
Viewpoint
Nosanctions
aaNins Serbia
by Jesse Walker tions-much like the last time the great
Once again, the United Nations is powers intervened in the Balkans, in
punishing a country's citizens for the 1914. The result: more death and more
crimes of their goverment. The sane- suffering, in more places.
tions recently imposed against Serbia At least, say some, let us place an
areaseriouspolicyerror,morelikelyto embargo on the trade in weapons.
exacerbate tensions, even extend the Surely, guns are the lastthing needed in
conflict, than to bring peace to what Yugoslavia today. But while weshould
was once Yugoslavia. certainly not be providing weapons to
What, exactly, do the leaders of the the Serbian government, blocking off
United States, the United Nations, and the weaponstradeentirely would do far
the European Community expect the
sanctions to accomplish? Certainly not
anendtothekilling.In America,people If the American or other
have beenknown to startshooting each governments must take part
other over such relatively minor mat- in the Yugoslav conflict,
ters as gas lines. In the Balkans, people they should do so as
are already shooting each other; lack of facilitators, not as yet
gasoline and other consumer goods will another aggressive party.
only make tempers rawer. Even if the Diplomacy, not intervention,
Yugoslavgovernmentagreestostopits should be our country's role.
aggression against Bosnia-Her-
zegovina, groups of Serbians and
Bosnians are apt to continue fighting more harm than good. The armies al-
each other, if not among themselves. ready have their guns, and will prob-
Scarcity has never brought peace to a ably be able to get more through covert
nation, only distrust and fear. channels, even during an embargo. But
And will the Serbians call off their the average civilian who tries to stay out
aggression inresponse tothesanctions? of fighting's way will have no access to
Possibly, but I doubt it. In the past, any means for defending his orherself
sanctions have simply fortified the af- or family. When guns are outlawed,
fected countries' positions by allowing only the government will have guns.
them to feel victimized. More likely, Economic sanctions areusually pre-
the economic embargo will fail to stop sented as a peaceful alternative to war-
the Yugoslav fighting, leading to calls fare. In fact, they are simply another
for military intervention as the only form of warfare, and when stringently
possible solution to the crisis. If this enforced, they can do as much damage
happens, a limited conflict that was as more traditional sorts of battle. If the
arguably already winding down will be American or other governments must
expanded to European or, if it is the take part in the Yugoslav conflict, they
U.N. that intervenes, global propor- should do so as facilitators, not as yet
another aggressive party. Diplomacy,
Jesse Walker, aformer Associate Edi- notintervention,should beour country's
tor and columnist for Weekend, is a role. Yugoslav problems willbesolved
recent LSA graduate and contributing by Yugoslavians, not well-meaning
editor at Liberty magazine. globalists with a gun up their sleeve.
Editors' Note
In last week's Daily, a 'Viewpoint' written by recent University graduate
Amy Polk stated that University Department of Public Safety Officer Timo-
thy Shannon had inadvertently shot another officer while employed by the
South Lyon Township Police Department. It has since come to our attention
that Polk's "Viewpoint" was based in part on unsubstantiated facts.
The Daily op-ed page provides a forum for members of the University
community to present their views. The views, as stated in the Opinion Page
masthead, do not necessarily represent the views of the Daily.
The editors and staff of the Daily feel strongly about reporting the truth in
its pages. We will continue to strive to maintain the tradition of responsible
journalism that has existed at the Daily for 101 years.
TheDailyapologizes toOfficerShannonforanyembarrassmentthatmay
have resulted from publication of this op-ed piece.
Residence Hall Librarians who man-
age and oversee all activity in the hall
libraries. The committee also included:
the author of the above-mentioned let-
ter, a Housing Administrator, the Head
ofthe Undergraduate Library, a student
representative, and the Residence Hall
Library Director.
During this meeting, my primary
objective was to express the opinions of
the Hall Librarians, including the fact
that removal of the Cliffs Notes under
such circumstances would constitute a
clear actof censorship. Removal of any
material from a library due to com-
plaints by anyone -be they from stu-
dents or President Duderstadt - con-
stitutes censorship. Whetherornotyou
agree with words on a page, they re-
main words on a page. No written ma-
terialintrinsically has the powertocom-
pel a student to cheat.
Furthermore, I feel that those op-
posed to the presence ofCliffsNotes in
University libraries severely underesti-
matethequalityofthestudentsatoneof
the nation's finest universities.
It frightens me to think that next
term we will be forced to remove reli-
gious literature, gay and lesbian litera-
ture, or literature on whatever topic
faculty members find offensive at the
time. Students must be aware that the
University has taken on the right to
determine what is appropriate for them
toread.Faculty and administratorsmust
be aware that they are making a mis-
take.
Michele Mecha
Head Librarian,
Couzens Residence Hall
Cliff's Notes represent
a sign of our times
To the Daily:
Iread Sean Cavazos-Kottke'sletter
on Cliffs Notes and was shocked. We
live in a society with fast foods and
instant Jello and he's surprised that
people want shortcuts in reading litera-
ture? People thrive on Cliff sNotes. It's
theonlyway thatsomepeoplewillread
the classics anymore.
Even if you, Sean, have read every
book assigned it doesn't mean that ev-
erybody else will. If you get rid of
Cliffs Notes, people will just get the
Monarch Notes instead. And they're
even shorter.
Then again, we live in a society
where most people won't read books
for their own enjoyment anymore. We
might as well finish the process and put
Cliffs Notes in music video form and
onbooks-on-tape.ThenNOBODY will
have to read anymore MikeGriffin
LSA senior
From the ridiculous
to the sublime
To the Daily:
I started to read Sean Cavazos...
anti-CliffsNote letter, buthisname and
the letter were far too long.In the future,
could you summarize such letters?
Michael Bonanno
LSA graduate
owpoins
by David Jacobson
and Pat Ryan
Students should be aware that an
Ann Arbor-basedcompany may ask for
their signature on a postcard regarding
atoxic chemical cleanup. Groundwater
pollution originating at Gelman Sci-
ences has spread beyond Scio Town-
ship and is infiltrating Ann Arbor.
The main pollutant is 1,4-dioxane
- a known carcinogen. The Michigan
Department of Natural Resources
(MDNR)ranked this site among the top
third of the state's most contaminated
areas. The Northwest Ann Arbor Coa-
lition of Neighborhoods, a citizens'
community organization, has informed
itself in detail about the nature of the
pollution and the alarming plans for a
"cleanup."
Under a plan proposed by Gelman
and the MDNR, Gelman can pump
groundwater contaminated with up to
100 parts per billion (ppb) of 1,4-diox-
ane from the Evergreen subdivision
near the Dexter-Mapleintersection and
dump it into a northeast branch of the
AllenCreekstormdrainsystem.(Drink-
ing water standard is 3 ppb.)
The Allen Drain is 60 years old,
leaks,andperiodicallyruptures.Flood-
ing along its course is common. This
cleanup plan risks exposing people,
animals, parkland and private property
to 1,4dioxane, as well as polluting the
underlying groundwater aquifer. (The
standard for putting this chemical into
ground water is "nondetect".) All that
remains for the plan to take effect is
permission from the City of Ann Arbor
andtheWashtenaw CountyDrainCom-
mission.
We feel this is a defective cleanup
plan, and we oppose it. We are commit-
David Jacobson is a staff dentist at
the University dental school and mem-
beroftheNorthwestCoalitionofNeigh-
borhoods. Pat Ryan is spokesperson
for that group.
ted to a timely and comprehensive ef-
fort to eliminate the contaminant, not
spread it further through the environ-
ment.
Gelman has used questionable tac-
tics to gain support for their "cleanup"
plan.Theypointtootherpolluters,seem-
ing to imply that if others can, they can
too. They assert that 1,4-dioxane al-
ready enters the environment via com-
mon household and automotive prod-
ucts and seem to say it is okay to dump
more into the drain. They and theMDNR
have spent years in court, during which
time the spreading contamination has
virtually gotten away from them.
Recently, Gelman has been distrib-
uting postcards in the area. Students-
know what you are signing! The cards
are headed: CITIZENS FOR CLEAN-
UP NOW, and ask permission to use
the signer's name in a newspaper ad.
The postcards are pre-addressed and
Gelman pays the postage. Signerscon-
tribute no money to pay for the ad. Any
signatures obtained are unlikelyto pro-
mote a first-rate cleanup; they could
likely be used to push the current inad-
equate plan instead.We don't see how
thissignatureadcampaigndemonstrates
public support for the company's
cleanup plan. If so, it might be more
convincing if the plan were described
on the cards. It isn't. Is there even a
group called "Citizens for Cleanup
Now"?
Pumping contaminated ground wa-
ter and dumping itin the Allen Drain for
15 years is arguably not a genuine
cleanup. We advocate a comprehen-
sive, state-of-the-artplantodecontami-
nate the affected water and, wherever
possible, return it to the ground. Tech-
nology exists to achieve the 3 ppb.
"clean water"level, which is drinkable.
Gelman a refused to spend
$10,000 needed to find out if that level
canbeconsistently attainedinrealcon-
ditions. But, they can spend approxi-
mately $2',500 to advertise their posi-
tion in the newspaper and reportedly
have already spent millions in litiga-
tion. The MDNR is entangled in law-
suits with Gelman and cannot require
them to clean below 100 ppb. It seems
to be up to the city and county to deny
therequiredpermitsandgiveusachance
for a REAL cleanup.
PetitionersfromtheNorthwestCoa-
litionofNeighborhoods are outcollect-
ing signatures for support in achieving
that result. The petitions will be pre-
sented at the June 15 Ann Arbor City
Council meeting.
Evenif you are astudentandmaybe
heretemporarilythesetoxicwasteprob-
lems are everywhere! Get informed
and get experience. Visit the public
library to review info on reserve. Come
to the meeting and urge our govern-
ment to do the right thing - deny the
permits for this flawed plan and work
along with Gelman, the MDNR, and all
those affected by the contamination
and cleanup activities to identify a safe
and complete plan. Your strong voice
must be heard to secure this outcome.
Please sign one of our petitions by
callino 6-A10R