Page 4 -The Michigan Daily- Monday, April 15, 1991
Wbe £irbigan &iilii
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L-.7
420 Maynard Street
Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109
Edited and Managed
by Students at the
University of Michigan
ANDREW K. GOTTESMAN
Editor in Chief
STEPHEN HENDERSON
DANIEL POUX
Opinion Editors
r Unsigned editorials represent a majority of the Daily's Editorial Board.
All other cartoons, signed articles, and letters do not necessarily represent the opinion of the Daily.
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hen Playboy magazine comes to campus this
week to photograph the Michigan contingent
of "the Girls of the Big Ten," it will be greeted by
staunch opposition-and deservedly so. Playboy's
pornographic content reduces women to mere ob-
jects, and perpetuates the sexist attitudes which
still dominate much of our society. The groups
which have organized to protest the magazine's
presence on this campus should be commended for
their efforts to oppose such a blatant affront to
women, and students are fully encouraged to get
out and participate in the rallies.
Even Playboy's 'stated intent for coming to
campus points to its sexist attitudes. The spokes-
person for the magazine expressed Playboy's de-
sire to have female students who are "attractive
and well-proportioned" try out to be models. But
Playboy's definition of' attractiveness" is extremely
limited. There is no mention of women's intelli-
gence or othernon-physical merits. Playboy wants
women for the sole fact that they will be physically
appealing to men, and therefore defines women
only as fulfilling men's sexual desires.
But as much as Playboy's presence on campus
is an issue concerning the objectification ofwomen,
it is also an issue of our First Amendment rights,
and - moreover - the right to choose for our-
selves in a free society.
Playboy-like every other publication, includ-
ing the Daily-has an explicit Constitutional right
to print the material it does. To question that right
MSA
Conservative Coalition reveals
W hen the new members of the Michigan Stu-
dent Assembly (MSA) took their seats last
Tuesday, conservatives once again gained control
of MSA. The assembly is now led by members who
ran with the Conservative Coalition (CC) party last
month.
As they have proven before, CC members are
extremely hypocritical in what they say and the
actions they affect. Unfortunately, now that they
lead the University's student government, little has
changed.
With incredibly laughable stunts such as the
campaign flier which encouraged voters to vote
CC because they would "curb anti-American pro-
tests," CC has demonstrated its unique brand of
absurd politics.
CC members consistently complained and con-
tinue to gripe about the old administration's ac-
tions, calling them part of a "political agenda."
Here is where CC's hypocrisy is most evident:
they, too, have an agenda - albeit a trite, reactive
one. From the reactions they have begun to initiate
and the changes to the MSA compiled code planned
for tomorrow meeting, CC is clearly on a path of
conservative, reactionary politics.
If the old liberal Action party members - the
focus of CC criticism - can be said to have had a
political agenda, so too can the new conservative
agenda. The politics of MSA will not disappear
with the infusion of a new conservative ideology.
The new CC leadership intends to pass a reso-
is to question freedom of expression in general,
and students who choose to protest Playboy this
week should keep this in mind. In addition, female
students who choose to be models forPlayboy also
have an explicit right to do so, and the protests
should not take aim at them either.
To this end, the groups which have organized
protest activities against Playboy have made a
point of focusing their opposition on the magazine's
content. The groups have made very clear that they
are not protesting the women who choose to model,
or Playboy's right to print, and should be com-
mended for this. Other students who join the ranks
of protest this week should respect the intent of the
organizers, and not blur the focus of the demon-
strations. It is Playboy's reprehensible content
which is so offensive, and that should be the sole
target of opposition.
Playboy - along with other pornographic pub-
lications - threatens every stride women have
made toward equality in this society. Its "Stone
Age" mentality, which portrays women as things
for men to ogle, is an affront to any society which
deems itself egalitarian, and it is imperative that
students make this point known when the
magazine's photographers get here. But students
should remember that while it is their FirstAmend-
ment right to protest Playboy, they also have a
responsibility to respect the magazine's right to
print and the models' right to take part in the photo
shoots.
its reactionary politics
lution severing ties the previous assembly formed
with sister universities in El Salvador and the West
Bank in the Israeli-occupied territories. This move
is completely reactive and uncalled for. These ties
merely represent our connections to other univer-
sity students around the world. Students at the
University should support the pursuit of education
for everyone, and these ties provide that. While it
is highly questionable whether political junkets or
fact-finding missions should be sent to these uni-
versities, it is clear that we should maintain some
form of relationship with them.
The rescinding of money going toward Todd
Ochoa's legal fees is also insidious and reactive on
part of the CC-led assembly. For as much as they
- and the Daily - may have disagreed with the
original resolution allocating the money for Ochoa's
legal fees, it was a legitimate action of the old
assembly and should not have been rescinded. It is
not the job of the new assembly to go down a
checklist of things the last assembly did and rescind
it and then presume it is what all of MSA's con-
stituents want.
James Green and his cronies - those on MSA
and off - have duped the campus into believing
that they are above the political bickering that has
been a part of MSA for years. What they have
proven instead is that they are politicians-capable
of all of the sinister activity commonly associated
with that position.
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Bush will
welcome protests
To the Daily:
I read in the Daily (4/12/91)
that someone was concerned
about Bush's graduation appear-
ance being "marred by protest."
Clearly, this person doesn't know
George Herbert Walker Bush very
well. Our president knows all
about the Bill of Rights (espe-
cially the Second Amendment),
and he'd probably be tickled pink
(oops! I meant tickled red-white-
and-blue) to see some citizens out
there exercising their "freedom of
speech," "the right of the people
to peaceably assemble," and "to
petition the government for the
redress of grievances." In fact, I
could just see him now, looking
out over this crowd of young
patriots and starting his speech,
"I'd like to thank you all for being
here today, especially those young
Patrick Henry's and Besty Rosses
out there with the funny signs;
you must be the group old Tom
Jefferson was talking about when
he said that every generation
should have its own revolution..."
John A. Guidry
Rackham graduate student
Friday reviews?
To the Daily:
As a person who is interested
in theater, I always watch the
Daily for reviews of different
University productions. But one
of the Daily's review habits
baffles me.
Most University shows run
from Thursday night to Saturday
night, possibly with a matinee on
Sunday. Why then, does the Daily
print its reviews for such shows
the following Monday?
The purpose of a review is to
aid the reader in deciding which
shows to see or not to see. This
obviously cannot be accomplished
by a "post facto" review. A
Monday review only serves to
boost or deflate a performer's self
image.
More Dooder State letters
To the Daily:
I would like to thank the
person responsible for mercifully
terminating the cartoon strip
"Dooder State College." I
struggle to recall an occasion
where there was actually any
material even remotely humorous
in the space allotted for the
cartoon.
Alan Landau's attempt to
comment on the various aspects
of life here at the University was
completely undermined by his
infantile attacks on President
Duderstadt and his administra-
tion. By ridiculing Duderstadt
and his administration in the
petty manner in which he has,
Landau neglects the true issues
facing our community.
Alan Landau has provided
ample evidence that he cannot
create a satirical, editorial type of
cartoon or even a simply humor-
ous cartoon. "Dooder State
College" offered no legitimate
social critique or comic relief due
to humor.
I doubt that many Daily
readers will mourn the absence
of "Dooder State College."
Christopher Smid
LSA first-year student
Dooder
wasn't funny
To the Daily:
I would like to thank the
Daily for removing "Dooder
State College" from the paper.
Where most people hope to
find comic strips to be interesting
and tickle their funny bone in the
process, this strip has not. It's
"humor" escapes us all as the
author is the only person who can
make heads or tails of the strip.
For instance, he tried compar-
ing the cafeteria food here to
nuclear waste. This is so boring
and uninteresting. It failed to be a
political strip like "Doonesbery"
just like a hippopotamus trying to
fit through a keyhole. In this
manner, I believe that the Daily
has shown good taste.
Carmelino Guiao
I
It would be much more
prudent to review shows in the
Friday edition of the Daily, after a
Thursday night performance.
Although most performers feel
opening night is never the best
performance, a critique during the
run of a show is definitely more
useful to the reader, the perform-
ers and the show's production
staff.
David Mulder
LSA first-year student
CEO responds
To the Daily:
I think some of the character-
izations in the editorial on GEO
("GEO talks" 4/10/91) were
unfair to the bargaining teams of
both sides.
Despite whatever posturing
goes on by each side outside of
the bargaining room, the actual
negotiations have not been
marked by immaturity, contempt,
or antagonizations.
I think everyone who has been
in the negotiating room would
agree that discussions have been
always civil, always friendly, and
sometimes productive.
The talks have bogged down
because we have reached some
serious issues which each side has
a very different perspective on.
Everyone hopes that mediation
can help us resolve these issues
quickly, and that disruption of
classes can be avoided. But the
issues at stake in negotiations are
real, and the lack of progress is
not a product of pre-school
behavior.
Alan Zundel
member,
GEO bargaining team
01
TA contracts
GEO has given leeway, administration should follow suit
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To protest or not to protest?..,
T his past week, TAs in the Graduate Employ-
ees' Organization (GEO) voted by a two-to-
one margin to endorse a work stoppage this
Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. For many TAs
- wracked by a sense of their responsibility to
prepare their students for exams - voting for the
stoppage represented an agonizing choice. But as
the vote itself indicates, many of them also felt that
it was their only choice.a
In a mediation session held this past Friday,
GEO once again demonstrated its willingness to
give ground in the interest of avoiding a strike. But
the University met every GEO concession with
demands for more concessions - while surren-
dering nothing in return.
One of the issues GEO refuses to give up is its
demand for smaller classes. From the very begin-
ning of negotiations, GEO has insisted that their
demands revolve around issues which would allow
TAs to be better teachers. Pay is part of this. So are
smaller, more intimate classes, and GEO should be
commended for standing by a demand which dem-
onstrates its commitment to quality undergraduate
education.
The University, on the other hand, is again
signalling its flagrant disregard forundergraduates'
education. It has not simply refused to meet GEO
half way; it has barely budged at all. As hundreds
of millions are raised for new buildings, the truly
important things here - such as undergraduate
education - remain under-funded and largely
ignored.
It is no wonder, given this context, that GEO
members are now discussing the possibility of
extending their three-day work stoppage into a
full-scale strike. While GEO members do not want
to strike and thereby hurt their students, they will
if they must - recognizing as they do that this
might be the only way to benefit undergraduates
and their educational experience in the long term.
Whether such a strike actually takes place is up
to the University's bargaining team. This afternoon,
they will again be in mediation with the GEO
bargaining team. They can agree to compromise-
as GEO already has. Or they can continue to
simply go through the motions - and force the real
losers in this situation, the students, to bear the
consequences.
I always expected my college
graduation to be a nostalgia-filled
drunk-fest with my friends, lasting
on the order of about 72 hours, with
the obligatory considerations of
sleep and
familial re-
sponsibility David
serving as Schwartz
the only in-
terruption"
of an other-
wise glut-
tonous
weekend.
Leave it to
the Univer-
sity of
Michigan to
throw some
messy politics into the equation.
You see, George Bush is com-
ing. It sounds ominous, doesn't it?
I can almost hear Paul Revere say-
ing: "One if by land, two if by sea,
three if by Air Force One." Except
instead of the Red Coats, we'll be
assaulted by hordes of generic-
looking secret service men snorting
face, both literally and figuratively,
and no one expected him to come
back.
Now, everyone keeps asking me
if I'm planning to protest Bush's
triumphant return. The president is
riding the crest of the latest Gallup
Poll, and is basking in his quick
dismissal of Saddam Hussein's
army. All of which, of course, makes
my stomach turn.
What's a'good anti-war liberal
to do? I think it's kind of cool that
the President of the United States
will be speaking at my graduation,
but how can I ignore the indis-
criminate slaughter of hundreds of
thousands of innocent Iraqis, killed
by Bush's executive order? How
can I ignore his shoddy domestic
policy, which hasn't begun to ad-
dress the -dire conditions of educa-
tion or homelessness in our own
country?
Though I'm not usually prone to
protest anyway, I've decided that
there are many more things I'd rather
be doing during my commencement
than walking around in a circle with
other day at the University of.
Michigan? People were protesting
when we got here, and the demon-
strations haven't stopped since.
I have only one fear: that the
extra security imposed because of
Bush's presence will impede our
ability to celebrate in peace. I've
been to several University com-
mencement exercises, and I can't
imagine them without rowdy
graduates and the frequent, unmis-
takable sound of champagne corks
popping. I'm fearful that the near-
strip search we'll probably have to
undergo before entering Michigan
Stadium will ferret out all the
champagne bottles and beach balls
that would otherwise escape unno-
ticed.
That would be the biggest shame
of all. The Bush administration and
University officials in charge of the
ceremony should remember thatthis
is, above all else, a -day for the
graduates, and we should be given
wide latitude to celebrate as we
wish. Commencement is not about
Georie Bush or the war in the Per-
Nuts and Bolts
NAVE 'YOU bigARp ?HL
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'M ZALSO HEAR~D WAT
'TMEYl'RE CETTIN& SOM J
SUDENtr - ca *tu.-r
by Judd Winick
BUT YOU GUYS WOULDN'T
KsNOW ABOLT THAT
1S0UL D vOu?
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