Page 4 Wednesday, August1Q, 994i

EDITOR INCHIEF 420 Maynard Street
James M. Nash Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109
Edited and managed by students at
EDITORIAL PAGE EDITORS the University of Michigan.
Patrick Javid Unsigned editorials present the opinion of a majority of the Daily's
Jason Lichtstein editorial board. All other cartoons, signed articles and letters
do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the Daily.

The spring has long since passed, the
summeris quickly coming to a close, but
politics never cease. In our last opinion
page of the off-season, we wish to leave you
with a few choice parting words on the issues
that we feel are most important to University
students like us. From the upcoming senato-
rial and gubernatorial elections to the pros-
pects for college life sans code, from tuition
hikes to foreign policy, this editorial page
hopes it has informed you throughout the past
3 1/2 months.
Yet another tuition hike
The administration has proposed and the
regents have approved a substantial tuition
hike for all full-time students at the Univer-
sity. In-state students will pay 6.9 percent
more for the 1994-95 school year, and out-of-
state students will see their tuition rise by 5
percent. While these increases are less than
last year's tuition hike, they remain greater
than the current inflation rate and must be
looked at carefully by students who deserve a
fair deal from the University.
A large amount of the increase is justifi-
able. Nearly one-third will go toward a cost of
living increase for faculty, and4.5 percent will
fund both the Michigan Mandate and the
Agenda for Women, two initiatives to achieve
amorerepresentativefaculty andstudentbody.
However, 9 percent will be slotted into a
reserve fund to brace for any spiraling infla-
tion in the next year; but few agree on where
this fund money will go ifnotentirely usedup.
And5 percent for "undergraduate initiatives"?
We deserve some specifics here.
All in all, this latest tuition hike does little
to directly help undergraduate students. This
fine University is quickly becoming a college
ofthe upper-middle class, despite the progress
of diversity mandates. If the University re-
gents actually refused to increase tuition so
drastically year after year, perhaps middle-
class families could afford to send their chil-
dren to college.
Amending the code
Sure enough, the code --the Statement of
Student Rights and Responsibilities - still
exists and is currently in effect on and off
campus. The Daily has written for many
months in protest of the code, and indeed in
protest of any formal policy of its kind. The
code can still be altered, or even abolished, but
students must take the initiative.
As it stands now, the code is only an
interim policy at the University. While the
differences between an interim policy and a
permanent policy are few and symbolic, the
code still does not have the full support of the
regents - and hence, the University as a
whole. When the regents voted last winter to
determine the code's status for the upcoming
year, they cited lack of student input in keep-
ing the code interim. Now is the time for

students to grab the opportunity.
Three University-sponsored meetings
have been held to amend the code. For each,
a majority of student jurors was not present.
A majority is needed so that adequate amend-
ments may be forwarded to the regents for a
vote. Another such meeting will be held this
fall, most likely in October. Students must
attend and support or draft amendments.
Student jurors must also attend to support
students like themselves and student rights.
Remember - this is the only way the code
will be amended by students, so we must all
take the initiative in the coming months.
Michigan Senate race
This contest pits GOPconservative Spen-
cer Abraham, the deputy chief of staff for
Vice President Dan Quayle, against U.S.
Rep. BobCarr(D-Lansing). Although Carr's
voting record is far from stellar - he, in
maverick-like conservative fashion, voted
against the Brady Bill and the Family Medi-
cal Leave Act - his opponent Abraham is
truly a "real conservative." Abraham is
against both abortion rights and gay rights,

withanexplosivedeficit. AsdubiousaDemo-
crat as he is, Carris the lesser of two evils, and
Michigan voters would be wise to dispas-
sionately cast their November ballots for
Carr, the moderate Democrat, rather than for
Abraham, another intolerant, ultraconserva-
tive talking head.
Michigan gubernatorial race
Incumbent Republican Gov. John Engler
is challenged by former U.S. Rep. Howard
Wolpe, now a professor of African studies at
Western Michigan University. Wolpe's lib-
eral credentials are clear and his election
would help mend the damaged reputation of
Democrats in the state government. Unfortu-
nately, Engler has delivered on his conserva-
tive campaign promises and succeeded in
both turning the state educational system
upside down and cutting spending for social
services. An upset seems unlikely in this race
- Engler is fairly popular and has had the
fortune of a friendly GOP legislature in en-
acting his programs. But Wolpe, unlike
Engler, has always been a politician in touch
with the people, and as governor, he is sure to

Summertime:
PolicyIWrap-up
From the Middle East to Lansing, the world
and its politics never cease

compromises, threatenedfilibusters andother
forms of political posturing, we as a nation
can accept no less than the Mitchell plan.
Although Majority Leader George Mitchell's
(D-Maine) plan only ensures that 95 perceg
of all Americans will have health coverage
by the year 2000 (after that a watered-down
employer mandate would kick in), social
legislative feats have been historically been
done gradually, and so the same with univer-
sal coverage. But if Senate Republicans and
rogue Democrats defeat the Mitchell plan,
Congress will have done the impossible in
turning their backs on the middle class, who
have the most to gain from real health care3
reform.
But we cannot forget the individual who
started the health reform craze. Sure, Sen.
Harris Wolford (D-Pa.) originated the idea in
modern campaign politics, but President
Clinton is the onepublic figure who exploded
the concept onto the national stage. Putting
ideology, policies and administration con-
flicts aside, Clinton has done the nation ani
its future a favor in proposing the idea of
health care security for all. Just think - if
George Bush were in the White House, health
care would never have reached the congres-
sional docket.
Clinton foreign policy
President Clinton's foreign policy team
has made a number of important strides re
cently, includingthe signing ofa peace agre
ment between Jordan and Israel in Washing-
ton, D.C., and the successful, yet temporary
diffusion of the North Korean nuclear crisis.
Also, the Clinton administration has gained
the unanimous support of the United Nations
SecurityCouncilfortheuseofmilitarymeans
tooustthejuntainHaiti-a significant boost
to administration policy, which before had
consisted of laughable fumblings a'
bumblings. Some of the progress has to do
with Secretary of State Warren Christopher's
reshuffling of his top staff closer to home and
hard work behind the scenes. Christopher's
shuttle diplomacy in the Middle East has so
far produced two historic accords, and now a
groundbreaking Syrian-Israeli pact is in the
works. American credibility and resolve,
however, still demand some repair, and only
the president can give it the life support cAl
it needs. Now, with the Clinton team on the
mend, they should soothe the Korean issue
and make the right decision on a Haitian
invasion. Get those blue helmets, stupid!
What you have just read is the accumula-
tion - the collective political psyche - of
the Michigan Daily editorial staff. We, the
editorsoftheopinionpage,hope that, throug
out the spring and summer, this page has been
a source of enlightenment on the issues that
matter most in the young lives of University
students. Ciao!

and if elected, would only increase the like-
lihood that Sen. Bob Dole (R-Kan.)could be
elevated to Majority Leader status - and
this would be a very bad thing for America.
TheprospectofaRepublican-controlledU.S.
Senate all but kills the rest of the Clinton
agenda, and its plans for welfare reform.
Moreover, Abraham is decidedly a Wash-
ington insider, residing deep within the Re-
publican Party. Thus his support for the
middle class and the welfare of the nation as
a whole can be called into question.
However, both of these candidates are
subpar. Carr's primary campaign touted his
"two-strikes-and-you're-out" plan (even
more punitive than Clinton's) and his belief
that illegal aliens in U.S. prisons should be
deportedtomakeroomfor otherhomegrown
criminals. Together, these are frightening
symbols of Carr's views on the crime epi-
demic and on society in general. In addition,
Carr is an expert in doling out Congressional
pork to his people - a good talent for the
state, but not really what the country needs

focus on the disparities in public education
still pervasive in Michigan. However quali-
fied Wolpe has proven himself to be, Engler
seems a shoe-in for re-election. Even more
reason to vote for Wolpe. Sander Levin for
governor in 1998?
The state of health care reform
The battle has truly begun on Capitol Hill
in an effort to pass the first major piece of
social legislation since the passage of Medi-
care in the late '60s. The Senate began debate
on the Mitchell bill yesterday and the House
plans to take up the Gephardt package some-
time next week. These twobills, producedby
the Democratic leadership, are the frame-
work with which President Clinton's com-
mendable campaign ideals of universal cov-
erage and cost containment can most realis-
tically be achieved. The more liberal of the
bills is Gephardt's, but his more severe em-
ployer mandate stands little chance of pass-
ing the more conservative Senate. In the final
analysis, after hundreds of hours of debate,