opinion
Justice prevails thanks to students
Justice — in the form of a $248,735 bill due the
taxpayers of Maryland — has prevailed in the case
of Spiro Agnew.
Agnew got some of what he had coming when
a Maryland judge ruled the former vice-president
had indeed received the kickbacks he denied
taking as governor of Maryland, and must repay
the state's taxpayers — with interest — what he
took.
The suit decided Monday was conceived in a
1976 Georgetown University law class. And that is
what makes it remarkable.
The case was pursued by law students,
working on a class project. It wouldn’t have suc
ceeded without them.
Students laid the ground work, and Ma
ryland's attorney general clambered aboard the
anti-Agnew bandwagon. So did the rest of the
establishment, and they all went merrily on to stick
Agnew with his.
Even the most conservative mouthpieces
have washed their hands of their shamed veep,
adding their voices to the condemnation of Ag
new’s high jinks. So it would be easy to lose sight
of the fact that it was students who were interested
in seeing Maryland’s taxpayers protected.
Everyone can be happy to see Agnew getting
his. But students can take special pride in the fact
that it was members of their ranks — albeit distant
relatives — that started the ball rolling.
That’s rare these days. With students collec
tively ignoring both campus and national elec
tions, apathy has become the bane of modern
studentdom. Students don’t get no respect
these days — be it condescending treatment from
wealthy timber brokers or rejections of student
government decisions by veto-wielding University
administrators.
And by and large, students deserve what they
get. We are an apathetic, ignorant lot, and we reap
what we sow.
But occasionally something happens to make
everyone think that perhaps students aren’t the
worthless beer-guzzling, sex-crazed hedonists
older adults think students are.
It happened in Maryland. It can happen again.
yg rs
May Day 1981
Today we see the future of the entire
world coming up for grabs as the strug
gle between two opposing forces inten
sifies. On one side are all the imperialists
— of both the U S. and Soviet blocs —
who must attempt to defend and expand
their shaky control over the peoples and
resources of the world. On the other side
is a growing class-conscious army of
workers who fight both against a com
mon enemy — the imperialists — and for a
common vision, the end of all oppression
and the elimination of class society.
This array of workers marches behind
the Red Flag of Internationalism and
refuses to be used by “lenders” who
would have them follow national flags
into war to redivide the world among the
imperialists. This international army of
Proletarians recruits wherever people
struggle against imperialism and begin
to see that theirs is a common cause —
from the Brixton rebellion, the Polish
Strikes and protests against U S. invol
vement in El Salvador.
Events such as these help to alert
those awakening to political life that what
is wrong is not one particular abuse or
another — rather it is the whole system
that is rotten. Those who see the domin
ance of imperialism and the need to
reverse this trend through revolution
must take up the call of May Day —
International Workers Day — a manifest
of our future and how to achieve it.
Attend the rally at 12:30 Friday. May 1, at
the EMU — act openly and boldly to
declare your sentiments. Pres. Reagan
has declared May Day to be Loyalty Day
in direct opposition to International
Workers Day — take up the challenge
May Day 1981!
Claire Cheng
Junior, English
Political reality
Since I am uniquely qualified to re
spond to Dave Gressett's letter headed
“Elections Needed?” of April 24, I will try
to clarify and expand on some of the
points he brought up.
First, there is nothing inherently evil
about forming “tickets" of candidates.
Parties, after all, are a traditional elec
toral vehicle, and formal parties were, for
many years, a part of the ASUO electoral
process. The current tendency to form
informal parties based on a perceived
common interest, such as the law school
and Greek system have done, is good,
sound political strategy and should not
be condemned out of hand This year’s
behind-the-scenes, share-the-seats plan
developed by representatives of the law
students and the Greek system is, of
course, somewhat different The “com
munity of interest" is artificial, and the
plan really benefited only two people,
Gus Palmitessa and Katcha Phinney, but
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it was still a legitimate and traditional
political technique, that of coalition
building.
My advice to students disgruntled over
this lopsided IFC is to form your own
coalitions next year and get to work
organizing. I have won six elections, lost
five and worked on both winning and
losing campaigns for others, and I have
little patience with those whose only
commitment to participating in their own
governance consists of remembering to
vote on election day. That so-called
"unbeatable Greek coalition," plus a
major portion of the law school vote, won
the recent IFC election with a sickly
average 8 percent of the eligible student
vote, in a total turnout of about 14 per
cent If you don't like it, organize.
Gressett’s letter makes one very im
portant point, which I hope the law
student and Greek leadership notes.
Ticket-writing, without some kind of in
house quality-control system, tends to let
some lemons and duds slip into positions
of considerable importance. If we are
going to have "parties," then we need
those parties to do a better job of can
didate selection, a "primary," if you will
A Greek or law student who goes to vote
with the party ‘ ticket" in her hand should
be concerned that the people on the list
are not only going to protect her pro
gram’s budget and perks, but that they
are adequately qualified and committed
to getting the job done. Sadly, that has
not always been true.
I would like, finally, to thank the many
people who helped on my unsuccessful
re-election campaign, and the 984
students who voted for me. I would also
like to congratulate my opponents on a
crisp, clean, professional campaign I
only regret that I will be unable to serve
on the IFC with you.
Alan Contreras
Junior, political science
Squirrel response
As recently appointed spokesperson
for the squirrel community, I feel I must
respond to this recent uprising against
us. Squirrels are animals too! We were
there first, this campus belongs to us. We
have a natural right to be arrogant. You
are the intruders, the interlopers, the
two-legged scum of the earth.
I realize that as college students you
feel you have it rough. I hear you moan
ing about your papers, tests, reviews,
briefings and failed experiments. Sure,
sure, I realize you are broke and you only
got four hours of sleep last night. Well,
folks, a squirrel's life is not all fun and
games either.
With all the Birkenstocker’s eating
health food, nuts are hard to come by.
And lodgings — hah! Have you noticed
the price of trees nowadays? It makes me
ill. For the prices we pay, you would
assume we would get some privacy. But
NO we live in a fishbowl Quit gawk
ing at us. Avert your bloodshot eyes and
save wear and tear on your rubber necks.
Presently, we are busy organizing our
lobbying efforts in Salem We should fit
right in up there with all those nuts. We
are preparing for battle.
To put it in a nutshell, it ain’t so great
being a minority. Our so-called ar
rogance is our only defense. We will not
falter, we will not crack! Squirrels of the
University, UNITE!
Stacey Neble
Junior, English
For Squirrels
After reading many issues of the
Emerald and being exposed to masses of
anti-squirrel sentiment, I feel the need to
speak out. I think these "squirrel-haters"
are disguising their own deficiencies by
agitating the public interest against the
hapless squirrel. This squirrel
propaganda is the work of many of the
misfits of higher-educational society.
They are the morons on wheels who
never heard of traffic laws pertaining to
bicycles; the inconsiderate slobs who
advertise the number of watts per chan
nel on their stereos when others wish to
participate in even less constructive acts
of stupidity to further annoy those who
choose to study; the jerks who save seats
for friends at sporting events at the ex
pense of others who choose not to
alienate themselves from reality (no
specific fraternity mentioned); the
"punks" who would write the word
"Spam" on their firstborn child’s for
ehead in order to conform to their
perception of the status quo; the girl who
is simply playing stupid in order to please
this week’s boyfriend (no specific soror
ity mentioned); the persons afflicted with
Joan Baez-itis who think that they can
change the world with a song or a stupid
saying on the bathroom wall or in the
newspaper; and everyone else that
someone has a complaint about. Face it
folks, we are all screwed up in our own
distinctive ways. Why single out the
squirrel as a scapegoat? Complain, gripe
and write a letter to the editor. A whole lot
of good it will do. Think about it.
Mark Coriose
Public relations officer
Society for Equal Infuriation
Senior, CSPA