O PINION EDITOR IN CHIEF James M. Nash EDITORIAL PAGE EDITORS 420 Maynard Street Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109 Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan. i Patrick Javid Unsigned editorials present the opinion of a majority of the Daily's Jason S. Lichtstein editorial board. Alt other cartoons, signed articles and letters do not neressarily reflect the opinion of the Daily. W elcome to spring term 1994. Ah is tradition, when the temperature rises, people become friendlier, untanned legs in san- dals abound and students relax on porches, the time has come for the first issue of The Michi- gan Daily (OK, the Summer Weekly). We on theEditorialStaff, like most ofyou, are looking forward to our times in Ann Arbor. Although the workload is lighterand alaid-back, carefree mentality pervades the psyche and soma of University students, we will provide you with a comprehensive page that will challenge, in- form, de-mystify and spur you to act. This is our job as journalists and fellow students. The spring and summer months are crucial months at the University, especially this year. Together, we must keep abreast of potential tuition increases and challenge the regents to come up with better ways to increase revenue in rechannellingdiscret ionary spending. Also, the movement to expand student representation both on the Board of Regents and on the Ann Arbor City Council are important issues that affect us all - the student constituency. If something sets us apart from the administra- 'Welcome to the Occupation' Students must be aware, attentive tion, from the faculty, from local politicians and local residents, it is that collectively we are students at this University and as such, we have cotnmon interests and common dilemmas. One is to keep tuition down to reascmnable levels. Anothi is to ensure that basic sodent rights-inaccess and epresentation-ire not furtherintringed upon. The adverse, de-tiberal- izing effect of the Diag Policy, the Statement of Student Rights and Responsibilities (the code) and the new smoking and alcohol policies vio- late fundamental guarantees of liberty. We, as students, are still citizens in the University democracy, and our voices and opinions need to be heard with utmost urgency. We, as students, are also entitled to live in a safe, Iree, non-violent college envirsonmenit - a learning atmosphere not infested with hatred, rape, assault and orthodoxies that stymie free thinking. The editotial page is dedicated, first and foreniost, to providing this academic coM- munity with local commentary on pressiig University issues - we feel more attention needs to be paid and more action needs to be directed toward seeking (ot better alternatives in pursuing a different course of political ac- tion. As a student-run independent newspaper, it is vital to us that the lens of the press be properly focused on the issues thait matter, and that students not just relent theii rights to thg amorphous and subtly powerful University administration. This page will be on top of everything from the University level to the international com- munity. Significant issues that will grace our page include the restructuring of MSA, the 1994 Michigan gubernatorial and senatorial primaries, NATO and U.S. action in Bosnia- Herzegovina, President Clinton's health care legislation, City Council decisions, and D0 Jack Kevorkian's drive to legalize doctor-as- sisted suicide. We sincerely hope, however, that our emphasis and force will reittain fo- cused on local issues as they have the unnerv- ing potential to affect every student on this campus. So we, the editors, hope that yo rad our page each week. and gain someithig fruitful from it. Please feel free to write us, cal los, ore- mail us throughout the spring and sutmmer. A* editors of the editorial page, we feel it is our responsibility toworkourhardest in improving the University. As students, we can do no less. Kevorkian acquittal Doctor-assisted suicides must be legal South Africa - free Mandela wins first democratic election * Dr. Jack Kevorkian was acquitted Monday of all criminal charges related to the as- sisted suicide of Novi resident Thomas W. Hyde Jr. Kevorkian has been arraigned and unsuccessfully tried four times by counties in and around the city of Detroit. These ill-con- ceived legal feats were made possible by the Michigan Legislature's wrongheaded 1992ban on all assisted suicides. In enacting the law, the Legislature acted to ban the likes of Dr. Death, while a state commission studies the issue. More than ever, the cause of doctor-assisted suicides has been clearly legitimated by the court of public opinion. Kevorkian's outspo- ken lawyer, Geoffrey Fieger, is right in pro- claiming that no jury -no court of law -has, or ever will, find Dr. Kevorkian guilty of a crime. What Kevorkian practices - albeit a threat to the skewed moral code of Operation Rescue and Right to Life-is a philosophy that people in pain, who are suffering from terminal diseases, have the basic human right to die in peace and dignity. Competent adults have the moral choice - free from unnecessary government sanction - to decide if this temporal life is worth living or not, and to take action in accordance with this freely chosen decision. Doctor-assisted suicides are by far the saf- est, most humane and responsible way for our society to help people end their own lives - if they so choose. Some people with catastrophic illness - conditions that bring with them great emotional and psychological hardship, having struggled and fought to maintain life - may indeed come to the conclusion that death is the preferred option at this stage of the illness. It would make much more sense for the state to acknowledge that such suicides are legitimate and medically acceptable. From there, the state can implement appropriate safeguards andregu- lations to ensure that medically unnecessary suicides are averted, It is time once and for all for the Legislature to rethink its position on assisted suicides, which has been found unconstitutional. Kevorkian and his allies areorganizing amove- ment to place on the November ballot a consti- tutional amendment thatswould ensure acitizen's right to make such crucial decisions about life and death. Even ifKevorkian fails to amend the state constitution, the message is clear - the people of this state vehemently disagree with the Legislature and the religious right on this issue of utmost importance. The judiciary has spoken for the fourth time. An Appellate Court decision, soon in coming, should strike down -once and for all - the misguided law. Says Fieger, "Every person in this country and in the state who is suffering from the type of diseases that Thomas Hyde suffered from and wanted to have at least the right to decide - their rights were on trial here.. The courts and the people are on Kevorkian's side. To ease pain and suffering is a right we all must be free to exercise. After 300 years of Apartheid rule - marked by overt, brutal policies and ex- treme actions of racism - South Africa has completed a stunning transformation from an exclusionary, white-run government to a free democracy. All of the fanfare, accusations of corruption, threatened boycotts and violence aside, the simple fact that free elections were held in South Africa is mind-boggling, and heartening. Despite the turmoil that surrounded the na- tion during the weeks before - and the threat that terrorist attacks by both white suprema- cists and the Inkatha Freedom Party, led by Mangosuthu Buthelazi, would frighten voters away from the polls - South Africans demon- strated their mettle and intense desire to live in a free and democratic state, by voting in full force. Fortunately, the election was not marred by violence, and United Nations officials de- clared the election fair. The official tally will not be in for a few more days - as South African law provides 10 full days for ballot counting - but there is no longer any doubt that the victor will be Nelson Mandela, the leader of the African National Congress. Mandela, after serving 27 years in jail as a political dissident, has since built his political reputation around his uncanny ability to persuade political opponents and his remark- able lack of bitterness toward the politicians who jailed him. Instead of acting out of bitter- ness toward the all-white power structure, Mandela has worked hand-in-hand with cur- rent South African President F.W. de Klerk to deliver reforms, and finally this election, to the long-oppressed Black majority. While Mandela, de Klerk and countless other reformers deserve kudos for pulling off this remarkable feat, a daunting task lies ahead of them: assuring that the transition to democ- racy is relatively painless, meaning violenc* does not rock the brittle new government, and ensuring that South Africa's entry into the world political economy, as well as into the United Nations, is smooth. Mandela, working under the assumption that he will be the new president, has wisely promised to include all political persuasions in his new government. De Klerk will likely assume the post of deputy president and, under law written specifically for this election, each political party that r* ceives at least 5 percent of the vote will be ensured a cabinet seat. The effect of this law, and of Mandela's conciliatory behavior, is that South Africa may be able to prevent the ethnic and political strife that so often plagues young democracies. All of the political intricacies aside, one can hardly look at South Africa today and not recall the countless news articles, editorials, televi sion clips, political speeches and the tike decry ing the evils of the minority-led white govern- ment. In what is increasingly becoming a more democratic world, another bastion of oppres- sion has finally fallen.