U-M Politics Infect W'CBN by Adam DeVore

A source from within WCBN (a Uni­versity of Michigan-supported FM radio station which calls itself "Radio Free Ann Arbor,") has come forward with numer­ous startling allegations about the sta­tion. Of these charges, the most notewor­thy include politically motivated firings, and censorship.

Des Preston, a former host of "Grey Matters," a political talk show on WCBN, prefaced his prepared statement with an apology. "I thought that the problems of the radio station could be solved 'in house,' but I have since come to the real­ization that I have probably done WCBN a greater disservice by not having come forward sooner '" I will no longer coun­tenance the day by day deterioration of

the prindples of 'Radio Free Ann Arbor' in the name of team spirit," he said.

In September of 1991, Preston took a leave of absence from "Grey Matters" in protest of the show's time slot being re­duced to 30 minutes and "in protest against the station management's dark­ening attitude toward criticisms of the left on WCBN's airwaves."

As Eric Whittier, who presents "Color Commentary" at WCBN, put it, "Grey Matters" was effectively "reduced to a one-sided program with much less sub­stance than it formerly,.bad."

WCBN's Jim Schuller, who is in charge of underwriting {Qr the station, agreed, noting that, 'TIes Preston's show was the best political commentary that we had. Politics are clouding WCBN's

management's judgement." :: . Protes~:s l?'y' UCAR, in conjunction .. , ~~e Black.Action Movement II (BAM

The Growth of Faction On Campus . )\ ~);, dte~ incre~ attention to radal ten-Back in February of 1987, the U-M's . Siqns.6n).;:amp~~~d compelled the U-M

AM carrier current radio station, WJJX, .<ld~ro~~ .. ti9I\tp~oPt its Policy on Dis-which can only be received in the U-M's 'Cii~l~ AIlcl DiSCriminatory Harass-dormitories, aired two radst jokes dur- rneht,)th~'f;r\'@ ~h restrictions of which ing the wee hours of the morning. There ha"~ ~mce\l;leet1 declared unconstitu-were no complaints until several weeks tioi\at later, w~en members of the United Coa­lition Against Radsm (UCAR) brought a tape of the jokes to the attention of the U­M .edministration, and perhaps more . importantly, the national press. It was in the wake of the WJJX controversy and the alleged distribution of racist flyers that broad-based student support for the United Coalition Against Racism (UCAR) finally coalesced.

.. <;,,\ ' Th~o.-:¥:~Alleged Cover-up Pet~aps t~1). '~ost shocking revela­

tion rerates.tohow the U-M handled the airing of:a.',song titled "Run, Nigger, Run," by ChriS:Daley;ildisc.jockey at WCBN and the host.of the "Downhome" show. On December 5, 1987, less than a year

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Please See Page 3

Further MTS Abuses Exposed by Chetly Zarko

On March 18 of this year, TS Taylor, an independent computing consultant and commerciall\.1TS (Michigan T ermi­nal System) user, excerpted a quotation from th e private \ conference NEWHAVEN and ente~ed it into the public conference USER:FORUM. Tay­lor claims to have obtained NEWHA YEN from an unknown anonymous source who phoned him and told him to pick up a printout at a U- M computing center.

The quotation consists of a conversa­tion between members of NEWHA VEN who had knowledge that an MrS Post­master, wh~ job it is to see that improp­erly sent electronic mail (e-mail) is for­warded to its intended destination, had been unethically reading the contents of e-mail. According to the U-Ms Condi­tions of Use policy it is the ethical duty of MrS Postmasters to look only at the header, or address, and refrain from read­ing the content of messages. Though the Postmaster incident in Taylor's excerpt has apparently been dealt with through ITO (Information Technology Division), this event illustrates the power that these people have and the real possibility for unethical use of such power.

agement and Budget and the co-orga­nizer of USER:FORUM, issued a com­mand which made the conference inac­cessible for over 24 hours.

In the interim, Bernstein contacted

Virginia Rezmierski, the Assistant to the Vice Provost for Information Technol­ogy, Bob Parnes, creator of Confer IITM, and the conference co-organizer Al Anderson via e-mail.

O'Connor runs for Senate by Joe Coletti

State Representative Margaret CYConnor (R-Ann Mor) has announced that she will seek election to Congress this November. The 10-year veteran of Lansing politics hopes to repre­sent Michigan'S Eighth District, currently help by Democratic Rep. Bob Carr.

Scott Hagerstrom, a volunteer in her of­fice, gave two reasons for her decision: to counteract the great amount of waste in Washington, and to work for her belief in term limits for all legis­lators at the state and federal levels.

CYConnor is well-known for her criti-

petition to make term limits a ballot issue in November.

Her opponent in the August 6 Re­publican primary will be Dick Chrysler,

who lost in the guber­natorial primary in 1986. Although O'Connor will not be­gin active campaign­ing until the Spending Policy Committee completes its report in about two weeks and she has a break from her duties in Lansing, Hagerstrom said that or ga n iz a ti on ally, "things are looking good."

As always, O'Connor is not ac­cepting any money

from political action committees (PACs).

Rezrnierski was oij~~)Qfa few Univer­

sity employees who ~a,&t~~authority to decide whether an act~ like the MrS Postmaster's consh tu t,\d, it . '(ioh~tion of the Conditions of Use ah~1 ot Proper Use Policies of the U-M. Acc~~qipg to Bernstein's public explanation of events, Rezmierski told her that' !'it:would be considered a violation of th~ Cbnditions of Use for a user to take inforrhC)tibn from , a private conference and put it in a public conference without the consent of the private conference participants."

Bernstein added that she had spoken with Taylor, who had informed hetthat "he did not have consent from the pn': vate conference participants." She says; . "Therefore," Bernstein wrote Oft USER:FORUM, "I concluded that there " . was a violation of Conditions of Use .... I therefore took it upon myself to remove the parts of his responses which were in violation."

After USER:FORUM was taken offline on March 19, Rezrnierski sent Tay­lor a letter warning him that his action was considered a violation of Conditions of Use. The Review obtained a copy of this letter from Taylor and verified its au­thenticity in an interview with Rezmierski.

The letter, dated March 19, states Less than 20 minutes after Taylor

posted the segment from NEWHAVEN onto USER:FORUM, Maya Bernstein, a policy consultant with the Office of Man-

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April 23, 1992

THE MICHIGAN

REVIEW Half the pages, twice the fun

The Campus Affairs Journal of the

University of Michigan

Editor-in-Chief .................. .. .. . Adam DeVore

Publisher ........................... Karen S. Brinkman

Executive Editor ............. Andrew Bockelman Executive Editor ........................ .Tony Ghecea Executive Editor ................. Kishore Jayabalan

Contributing Editor .. ..................... ,Joe Coletti Contributing Editor .... .......... ... Jay D. McNeill Contributing Editor .. ........... .Tracy Robinson Contributing Editor ......... .. . .stacey L. Walker

Assistant Editor ....................... Ryan Boeskool Assistant Editor ............................ Beth Martin Assistant Editor ......................... Brian Schefke

. ~·,Music Editor ................................. Chris Peters Literary Editor ...................... Adam Garagiola Copy Editor ............................. .shannon Pfent MTS Meister .......... ..................... Doug Thiese

Business Manager .............. Peter Daugavietis Business Manager ....... .................. Chet Zarko Advertising Manager ............... .Jennifer Weil

Staff Eddie .<\mer, Christopher Bair, Mike Beidler, David Boettger, Mister Boffo, Michele Brogley, P.J. Danhoff, James E. Elek, Joe Epstein, Frank Grabowski, Corey Hill, Chuck Hugener, Nate Jamison, Ken Johnston, Mary the Cat, Peter Miskech, Bud Muncher, Crusty Muncher, David J. Powell, Mitch Rohde, Charles ROUBseaux, Ed Sloan, Dan Spillane, Jay Sprout, Perry Thompson, Jim Waldecker, Matt Wilk, Tony Woodlief.

Executive Editor Emeritus ............... .}eff Muir Najszcz~liwszy Editor .......... Brian Jendryka Editor-at-large .......................... John J. Miller Editor Emeritus ......................... Marc Selinger

The Michigan Review is an independent, non-profit, student-run journal at the University of Michigan. The Review is not affiliated with any political party. We neither solicit nor accept any funding from the University of Michigan. Unsigned editorials repre­sent the opinion of the editorial board. Signed articles represent the opinions of the author and not nece>sarily those of the Review, We welcome letters and articles and encourage comments about the journal and issues discussed in it.

Our address is:

SUITE ONE

911 NORTH UNIVERSlTY A VENUE

A NN ARBOR, MI 48109-1265

TEL (313) 662-1 em FAX (313) 936--2505

Copyright 1992

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April 24, 1992

weBN Infection Continued From Page 1

after the infamous airing of racist jokes on W]JX, which many mistakenly blamed on WCBN, Daley played the con trover­sially-titled song without explaining that it was written in the 18405 by blacks and was meant to encourage black slaves to flee from the South to Canada via the underground railroad.

'The song," recalled Preston, "most definitely did not mean, 'Run, the Ku Klux Klan is coming after you,' but 'Run, escape from the racist South," The out­rage, indignation, and widespread re­sentment which Daley's action engen­dered had prompt consequences.

Daley was given little chance to jus­tify his actions, and members of the Uni­versity community, especially UCAR and the U-M administration, were even less interested in hearing his explanation. 'There was a climate of fear (at the U-M) which prevented authentic discussion [of racially sensitive matters) three or four years ago," Preston noted.

According to another WCBN source, many people at WCBN were able to "ra­tionalize" their decision to remove Daley because they feared that the administra­tion would intervene and either take over the station or remove it from the air en­tirely. The administration, he explained, used "stereotypical" notions of "black activism" as an excuse to threaten and manipulate WCBN.

Yet even Daley, whom one might have exp€ded to have been at the heart of the debate over his action, was unaware of the political maneuvering which al­legedly had been taking,place.

"People at WCBN thought that the U-M was going to shut down the station unless I was removed or resigned 'vol­untarily,'" Daley recently recalled. "I was not aware of the racial tensions which existed at the U-M. About the only con­tact I had with the University was when I came in to do my show. I can honestly say that it was a mistake resulting from my political nal vete."

"The University ordered us to fire the guy and keep it a secret" said Preston. '1'he station was terrified and afraid to spill the beans in public. Our Public Af­fairs Director at the time, Valecia Phillips, herself a black woman and a member of UCAR, later accused us of keeping it a secret ... [although) she was privy to the [executive staff] meeting at which the University directed us to keep it a secret in exchange for a more productive work­ing relationship with the U-M." Julie Lavrack, [then] from the Student Organi­zation Development Center (SODC), said to us at ... [that meeting on] December 7, 1987 that 'It is a potential source of pro­found embarrassment to the U-M if this

THE MICHIGAN REVIEW 3

"'it'"

incident ever comes to light.' Joe Tiboni and myself and Beth Fertig, a staffer at the Daily, and many others said immedi­ately ... (that we did) not want to fire this guy, [that we wanted] an investigation into the case, and that we wanted to go public immediately out of principle and our fear that it would inevitably leak, resulting in closer scrutiny and less sym­pathy than if we had been more open."'

In a recent telephone interview, Lavrick denied Preston's recollection of her comments. "Is is my opinion," she added, "that WCBN worked very hard to let the community know that it was not a racist organization and were trying to become a diverse organization by in­cluding diverse programming and re­cruiting students of color."

Efforts to reach Phillips were unsuc­cessful. The Ella Baker-Nelson Mandela Center for Anti-racist Education, UCAR's mother organization, refused to be inter­viewed about WCBN, UCAR, or related matters.

The U-M apparentl~ )Vanted neither an investigation nOl::tne publicity such a decision would entail, according to Preston and others from"Within WCBN.

"WCBN, in December of [19871 was ordered to write a statement saying that we were sorry about [the incident] and that we were firing [Daley] ... We wrote this letter under pressure saying, in ef­fect, that we were sorry this happened because it was not in keeping with WCBN's commitment to diversity."

Soon thereafter, then-Vice President for Student Services Henry Johnson be­gan enforcing WCBN's constitution more strictly. The constitution, which stipu­lates that only a small percentage of WCBN's staff may be composed of non­students, was thus effectively used to remove Daley and others who were not U-M students from WCBN. The station had ceased to operate in accord with its own constitution, according to Kevin Gilmartin, Director of the Office for Ma­jor Events.

Gilmartin said that approximately two-thirds of WCBN's air time was be­ing filled by non-students in the early to mid-80s.

'The University made it clear that it did not want Chris Daley to remain on the air," said one WCBN source who wished to remain anonymous.

Other members of the administra­tion have defended the constitutional crackdown on the grounds that because Daley was not affiliated with the U-M and, the University had no control over him, and, as the Regents hold the license for WCBN, a certain amount of control had to be maintained to protect the Uni­versity.

" A couple of months later, we tried to get Chris Daley, who had been falsely

1 ___ ... 111 - __ , ___ -.

charged with racism, reinstated. The Daley had ever been reinstated officially. board of directors voted six ;itwo il\ •. ' "My interpretation of Daley's suspen­.£avor~ ~ith t~e two re~resentati o~tp~ " ~ si~1} is,~hat he could petition the Board of admmlstratIon votmg 'nay,': f. ,saM .. ' 'Dlrtctors to return to WCBN, and I can Preston. only assume that he chose not to do so.

At an April meeting, Preston contin- My recollection is that there was never a ued, "Paul Townsend, the Chief Opera- . petition £tIed by Daley to the Board of tor and Chief Engineer of WCBN, said, Directors to be reinstated, and to my 'With all due respect to the supporters of knowledge he ~as never been reinstated." WCBN and will all due respect to the Although Daley said that he wrote of concerns raised by the opponents of Chris letter of ex,p.lanation and apology to

Daley' s rei~statement, I believ~ that t~s ' . . ,.W ..... ~ .•... I .. ij ... N: ... " .. i·.h.' e ';. '.~ ' ed t~at he has. never for­Board of Directors should consIder Chri1 ~ "rt;la!1t:apph;d for remstatement. Daley's reinstatement on the merits of its ~ lit ,~'ed .• \a~.e' y afterwards," Preston case, and not in terms of the broader '- I cfaint ' ~o'd •. e down from the Uni-

political pressures to which we're being " ve~il.~~ ..• :;.., ..... ;.., ~liltsaYing that reinstat-subjected to either in favor of Chris in ~~ ~.~~~ not in keeping with Daley's reinstatement or against it."1 Fred .th~j}J . 'i0lI '~ment to diversity. Remley one of two administrative repre- WCBN's decision was cited as an ex-sentatives on WCBN's Board of Direc- <1'mp~olin~:2!,-~ized racism." tors, then said, "very explicitly on the \ WCB~thEi1~egedlY received "very record, 'No'.1!'e internal facts of the case shm.y .. lett rs ~~e. administration" are not suffICIent. It must be conSIdered w~ sou ces~~d WCBN should in the \,roader context. The blacks are havt! ~ file. ffY~r~ by the Review to angry. We've heard that the blacks in obtan1, ~¥ess ~-4t~:Q.Imored files and Detroit ~e an~ry'l?ey t~ you're (i . ~., docudt'~t~ ~~~~~~ unsuccessful. WCBN IS] raost. It IS perceIved as a raost WCBN ~~earsln1Withng or unable to incident, therefore it is a racist incident. release 'S.~~'l f~imation, as General You've got to fire the guy pennanently in Manager Guida Barosso has not returned order to send the right message - that phone messages explicitly requesting to WCBN and the U-M take the issue of diSCUSS"tne availability-e~such documen-racism seriously.' ... I was there; the whole ration. t~wn k~ew ab~ut it. It was a major con': "We wei~soo~~e, vaguely troversy," continued Preston. worded threats~~tlt~An~e was plau-

In an April 21 phone interview, how- sible deniability,' ~~ted Preston. ever, Remley vehemently denied ever A letter fro~~iola, now having made such a remark. "I never the Building Director of the Michigan said that," he said. "It's no secret that Union, Preston clailT}ed, ~d th \ WCBN there was a big controversy, and indeed had to "'revisit the Issur .~ t " e were the issues involved were confused. But their words - and, ~:t ... t~w ' , lines, there was no plot on the part of the fire (Daley], or else.'/~ '0 ~ as not administration's representatives on the returned phone messag~ !in' about Board of Directors. Chris certainly took a the existence of such letfers. __ :, beating, and that's really too bad. But I After receiving such'Te'tters,' the ex-haven't been involved (with WCBN] for ecutive staffers at WCBN, man}:.qf them nearly five years. Emotions were run- young, decided to fire Daley?fhey,wrote ning high at the time, but nobody I'm a letter to that effect, but before they were aware of was out to get Chris." able to send it, Preston saw it and ob-

Preston disagrees, "Many campus jected. He instead called Daley, and after leftists who, like Corey Dolgon, were he explained the circumstance~, Daley around at that time and are around today resigned from WCBN. can't not know that they're lying when "Rather than publicly repudiate our they claim that nothing like this ever decision [to retain Chris Daley], as was happened. They support [U-M profes- being asked of us, we simply announced sor] Alan Wald in his fictionalization and his resignation from WCBN," said romanticization of matters by saying that Preston. As Daley put it, "Des [Preston] there were no real challenges to freedom called me and explained what was hap-of the press, that there were no real hor- pening. That's when I resigned." ror stories [and that it] wasn't like there was any real force that scared people and that forced people to do things - but that is a plain faced lie," claimed Preston.

At a Board of Directors meeting in April, 1988, WCBN reinstated Chris Daley over the objections of the U-M's repre­sentatives on the Board, Frederick Remley and Kevin Gilmartin, according to Preston.

Gilmartin was uncertain whether

Censorship on Radio Free Ann Arbor?

According to several sources affili­ated with WCBN, politically motivated censorship has been exercised routinely throughout recent lTlOnths. According to Jim Dwyer, Public Affairs Director at WCBN, however, the alleged problems

Please See Page 6

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April 24, 1992

MTSAbuse '~' . ....

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Ccmtinued From Page 1 ! 't~EfC' how~v~r,:r~er to actions done be-l r, . 'fo,e Rezmi~rflki's warning March 19

that Taylor, "without the permission of :: warning. The University thus appears to the persons involved, ... entered their ' llave' rede(il).~d its policy and to have personally identifiable responses, ma~~ , subSequen\lY., punished Taylor for actions in a private electronic conference, inti)' ~hich the ~ letter had subsumed in its USER:FORUM, a public electronic coo- diSctissiqrwfTaylor's MTS conduct. ference at the University of Michigan." ," j WhElni ~onfronted with the two ap-Rezmierski identified this as a violation p~ently, contradictory documents and of the University's Proper Use Policy asked whether the University's actions which states, in part, that, II any activity constituted "prior restraint," Rezmierski through which an individual without responded that 1'5 had posted new mate-authorization invades the privacy Ofit}- ' , ri~ during the interim period between dividuals or entities that are qeatQrJ/ )" ~ letters, two letters, materials which authors, users, or subjects of the)ht~' ~4~ felt violated Conditions of Use. She tion resources" is prohibited~.~9tha~I't..<:f' I :sp~fically referred to the new version tershe also cites an equally ~~~&i~ , 2 l~\X~~ names deleted of the file SX4H:Y. tions of Use stipulation to whic;h'aI!~ ,' )1his explanation is however inconsistent users agree Specifically "t~ ~~tl\~) ' l ) 'fjth the facts. She clearly refers to that privacy of other users." 5tJ'!.6.na,1J~ cites ., cl~le in the first letter; therefore Taylor ~ aylor's creation of a pubfS&s~9ie9tblel v c,oul~ no~ have committed a lJ~ew" viola­file, know as SX4H:Y, ou~de<o£~/cOt}-: ;; j ' tion 10 disregard of her warrung. In fact, ference system as a secop.&1viol;afi0119~ 1 he voluntarily modified the file to make the NEWHA VEN parlicipaht,t( pnv~cy'; ) it meet Rezmierski's criterion of not en-

After citing th~s,e' 'vioTftt,q~sJ tering personally identifiable informa-Rezmierski clearly , ~~ts , down )tP~ tion. Not only was this modified file University's position ¢ her)~tter's ~~m- cleared with the).'E> UserAdvocate but it '" cluding paragraph: "Be appriSed that if remains in existence to this day. you enter personally identifiable 'infor- The power of ~ch ambiguous poli-mation taken from a private forum into a cies to have a silencing effect on expres-public forum agai~ without the pennis- sion can be seen from Rezmierski's retort sion of the authOl'l}, action wiJlbe taken to that "T5 understood the Proper Use policy limit or terminat~ yo,u~ us~ ~t these re- and the Conditions of Use policy" since sources at the U~versiJY t>f Mlchigan." "he was a consultant....so he knows the

Taylor told ~(! Re;il~..q that'he under- intent of these policies.1I Intent? stood the U niv~ts;t,y' s' ':easoning and In view of this pattern of behavior by appreciated R;pru~~isdear demarca- lTD, it became difficult to escape the tion of what)le :q,)uld and could not conkusion that Taylor's account was re-permissibly 90:~He, u,nd~r:stood the prob- moved for some unknown political rea-lems associa.l~~)th r~leasing "person- son. The Review obtained a copy of the ally identifiabl~~Ihlterial, so he cleaned document from Taylor. Taylor only came up all of hi,s:lfilei and entries to exclude to the Review after registering his com-individua}!f l\~as:~om the posted rna- plaints about NEWHA VEN with the ap-terial. Aft~t-~Ving;the cleansed version propriate agents up to and including of the ,e*c;e,rpti lcieared by an lTD Douglas van Houweling, head of lTD. UserAd\fdqt~,Jaylor re-entered the in- After examining a copy of formation-without personally identifi- NEWHA VEN and verifying it existence able tags. The files and entries have been and membership, it became evident to allowed and exist to this day. the Review that ITO has been engaged in

On March 28, Taylor received a sec- a pattern of selective enforcement of Con-ond fetter dated March 24, this time from ditions of Use. Various employees have LauHJ3urns, the UserAdvocate Manager also abused and ignored their responsi-at [tP. This letter notified Taylor that his bilities to the University, computing re-MtS£;omputing priveleges had been sources are being used for unintended COtn~etly revoked. This decision was and non-employment related tasks, com-justified on the grounds that" Although puting knowledge and power is being H,e recent communication from Dr. used to harass and intimidate, and em-Rezmierski served as a warning, we have ployment decisions are affected by the now determined in conjunction with discussion on these private conferenc~s. University Counsel, that your action of Selective Enforcement of COU gaining unauthorized access to informa- NEWHA VEN contains several ex-tion and then releasing the contents of a amples of violations that COU by lTD private conference without the consent employees and friends of employees of the participants, with or without per- which go overlooked for some reason. sonally identifiable information, violated For example, Mark Davis-Craig, MTS their privacy and the respect for privacy Postmaster and member of the ITO Di-which the community expects." versity Facilitator Selection Committee,

The only mentions of specific viola- quotes "a dippy comment he [Ed.note: tions of University policy in the second personal information withheld] made in

.-.~.-~, -, ~~7:7:.-:,,':'-;,

ccsr AFF about [withheld] .... " Davis then goes on to directly lift a quote from ccsr AFF, which is a private conference restricted to Computing Center Staff. This is exactly the same offense for which TS Taylor had his entire computing priveleges revoked. The Review has made several separate attempts to reach Davis-

time Rezmeirski has disciplined some­one for inappropriate behavior on a pri­vate conference is when her own privacy was being violated.

In fact, the selective enforcement is­sue comes up consistently as a subissue in the violations discussed below.

Craig in vain. Use of Accounts for Unauthorized Countless other violations of COU Purposes

have occurred which have gone unpun- When asked about whether it was ished or have been dealt with in a differ- improper under COU to use accounts ent way than Taylor's violation. The most intended for work related purposes for illustrative example of selective enforce- private conference, Rezmierski re-ment is Rezmierski's disciplining of Unda sponded that it was. A whole class of Place, organizer of NEWHA VEN and a these accounts, known as W accounts, computing consultant for ITO, for enter- are dedicated to ITO staff. These accounts ing into a conference a confidential memo are intended for use in private ITO con-relating to an investigation into employ- ferences dedicated to discussion of work ment practices and private conferences. related issues, ITO staff communication,

It has been charged that Place en- and in some cases, programming. It is a tered the Rezmierski memo into known fact among lTD employees that WALDEN, a private conference of about such accounts should not be used for Sp people, so that the people on Walden expressly personal uses; this was con-would be able to see for themselves what firmed in an interview with Rezmierski. was transpiring within lTD. In August of 1991, a member of (Rezmierski's memo harshly and .:riti- NEWHA VEN suggests that the cally reviews WALDEN, but found noth- NEWHA VEN files be put on his account. ing improper about its existence and ex- "I could, maybe, 'put it [NEWHAVEN] on ercise under the current MTS guidelines.) my W account...[eIlipses in original] Any-

At a later time, Rezmierski report- ~P! think some snoop might find it and edly disciplined Place for entering thjj.t." ~'complain (inappropriate use of W ac-information into Walden because it was count stuff)? [parenthesis in origin all a confidential draft. Sources who wish to Howard Chu, with the Jet Propulsion remain anonymous say that Place was Laboratory, responded with, "Heh. Pos-formally reprimanded for entering pri- sibly, but so what?" The evidence dearly vate information into WALDEN. That indicates that the action's ramifications source states that Place dearly commu­nicated her intentions of sending this information through the file system and was worried that private control of W ALDEN would be lost.

In summary, the contradiction is this: Place entered private material [Rezmierski's memo] into the private conference WALDEN. Rezmierski sub­sequently disciplined Place, but Place retained her MIS access. Such a decision plainly contradicts Rezmierski's recent action, whereby she and Laurie Bums terminated 1'5 T ay lor's access to MTS for similar actions. The ultimate irony, ac­cording to the Review's sources, is that Place was concerned about the ambigu­ity of the policy which left her relatively unscathed and led to Taylor'S remov"l from the system.

Linda place was given an opportu­nity to answer questions from the Review and make any comments on the issue. She requested a list of questions which we submitted and told the Review that she would make a return a call with her answers. In the return call she said, "No comment pending an investigation into NEWHAVEN." We immediately called Rezmierski, who told us that she knew no investigation was under way.

It is indeed odd that the only known

were known. Chu was given an opportu­nity to speak with the Review but as of press time would not return a phone number by which to reach him.

Greg Diamond, an Assistant Profes­sor of political science at the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana, says in NEWHA VEN later in August of 1991, "Well, the ... [ellipses ours] jig is up, as they say. I've been clinging to my emeritus account from M:O for longer than proper (should have lost it back in May), and today I get a notice from [personal infor­mation deleted] .... which means that [per­sonal information deleted] is closing the books on it. I think I have another ac­count I can recourse to (an old aban­doned one which isn't being replenished), but it's still depressing. I'm wondering who the fink is."

Diamond lays on the full impact of these activities in his stark admission on NEWHAVEN in June of 1991, "Yeah, they'll take care of those people who have accounts *legitimately*, Brian, but what of those of us who scam them? Who looks out for *us* in ITO?" The organizer, Place, acknowledges with the response, "Duh."

Unethical Employment Practices and Harassment

'~H_«W_''''_'''_''''''''''''''''_''''''''''''_' _ _ '''''''''''''''''''''''''"''''''_'''_'' 4 .t; ...

April 24, 1992

The conference organizer, Linda Place, is ultimately responsible for the conduct of the conference according to Rezmierski. Place demonstrates implicit knowledg€ of malfeasant behavior and offers additional insight into the nature of NEWHA VEN in her response imme­diately following Chu's above comment which condones the inappropriate use of W accounts. "Which reminds me ... [ellipses in original) everyone who's used Howard's [Chu} NO[Mr. Xl [name de­leted} macro should dump any files you may have on your account. Howard .... hide those files or dump them or some­things. Apparently (name deleted] has com­plained about harassment. What can I say?" Place continues with "check your account for a no [Mr. X}.confer .. .if it ain't there, you didn't do it." Diamond re­sponds, "It was there, and now it isn't."

In her interview, Rezmierski men­tioned that lTD had investigated the pos­sibility that discussion on private confer­ences had affected lTD employment prac­tices in an adverse way.

It is the understanding of the Review that Rezmierski questioned Place, the NEWHA VEN organizer, about this and was sufficiently satisfied with the re­sponse that a decision was made not to view the files of that confer or another known as WALDEN which was also in­volved in the investigation. WALDEN is a superset of NEWHA YEN which in­cludes all of NEWHAYEN's participants along with several dozen others.

Kathy Madison, a Systems Group Programmer, has unlimited access to the system. Such access gives her the power to do just about anything she might want. On November 7, 1991 she admits to the follOWing on W ALDEN'S'item 63:

Now, the other, most likely answer is that she [presumably Rezmierski] misun­derstood one of the complaint - and that it was that people who know enough to play around with the system can cre-

THE MICHIGAN REVIEW 5

ate a false Confer Source file, fake item and response files, and .confer files, and have their friends $source the file, which locks files like, say, 1/ ccid:no[id. deieted].Confer", and "home:resp.no[id. deleted]" and"home:item.no[id. deleted]." I will admit (in this forum) to being Guilty of aiding, abetting, and spreading such a scheme; it was not my original idea, but I was the one who actually got it in file form instead of just roaming around in people's minds ...

It was probably "wrong", but it got out a lot of frustration, and did force a confrontation which (somewhat) cleared the air. (maybe that's not the best terrI"i but...) I suppose that other people wouldn't have thought of it;, but it wouldn't have worked to annoy anyone else but [identity deleted] ....

When contacted, Madison said she 1/ could neither confirm nor deny" having made such a statement without having her "copy of the conference in front of her," Such statements indicate that some group of individuals, including the above namect conspired to harass an individual. The intent of the abov~at1ion is clear, it was understood to be "wrong," and the members of NEWHA VEN Who were in-

volved felt a necessity to cover-up their act and attempt to hinder an investiga­tion by Rezmierski.

Diamond clarifes the groups' gen­eral intent when he suggests in regards to this person in October of 1991, "Well, on the positive side, we've probably de­stroyed his life," According to Condi­tions of Use engaging in behavior to ha­rass other users of the system is a clear violation of policy,

This may give reason to doubt the claim Rezmierski made in her interview that those with system administrator ac­cess are "people who have impeccable ethics,"

Mark Davis-Craig, previously noted as an lTD Diversity Selection Committee

'Pmember, has not only entered "Why I has had system administrator access for hate [Ed. note: name deleted}" items, which six years even though he has not worked is utterly hypocritical for a DivetslfYlSe- at the University since 1987.,Gabriele lection Committee member, buf~~ hIts obtained or was given special power also advocated viewing other emplOyeeS through the creation of a file called payroll records. This is against Staidard MARK.POWER given an attribute known Practice Guide (of the U-M) and repre.: i as PROT=OFF. The protection off vari­sents an invasion of other employeesCpri-'; able gives a person power to run pro­vacy. It is also a clear that such behavior r \ grams that have special access to the is a violation of Conditions of Use poliCy; \.' system - programs that can normally point 6 defining it as improper to "di- ~ . only be run by sytstem administrators vulge sensitive personal data." In June of who have direct accountability to lTD by 1989, Davis says, "If you ever want to be virtue of their employment. It is the job of ill/ have a laugh, you should edit an administrator to check all accounts CPRH:PR.AUDIT, the audit file for the' Mit! files to make sure that all files have consultants' payroll program and see how'! pPdtection on. For five years this file has petty he is. There are so many entries for '~iitsisted in the wake of administrative an extra tenth of an hour." Davis was ' 6~~rsight. Gabriele claims to have never unavailable for comment. used the file after he discovered it and

Inadequate Security In addition to the unlimited access

that system administrators have, it has come to the Review's attention that secu­rity "hol~" exist allowing unauthorized access to system administrator powers or unauthorized and unknown use by actu~ system administrators.

The Review has acquired MTS log evidence that shows that a Mark Gabriele

reported the "hole" to an lTD staff in 1986, yet according to a log file entered anCl viewable in the public conference USER:F0RUM, the file existed as recently as last year.

Acc6rtiing to Steve Burling on April 21, in tJSER:FORUM, "The 'bug' that Mark diJcovered wasn't a software bug, it was a 'hbie in administrative proce-

i \ ;

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6 THE MICHIGAN REVIEW April 24, 1992

weBN Infection . ~:

Continued From Page 3 : ." (3 1 "~'I . . .

fact, theYI.ar~ n;sistant to anyonWefining free formrq~d.es the white students who

of censorship and political correctness at run theirJl~tq station. This attitude on the WCBN are less severe than some of the part ofth~ WCBN management has ~ad station's detractors claim. very heayy repercussions at the station

"The act of censorship involved (in becau~~ ~t allows them to deny many my caseL" alleged Preston, "obtained bla£kstUdents air time. Many other black from its having been openly expressed to slufleqts~esitate even to attempt to get me not once, but several times, by several in~olved in broadcasting on WCBN." people, that they were afraid of what I i. No~ everyone is convinced, however, would say on the air. [They said) that I that the University is determined to con-could get the station in trouble by criti- trol WCBN's every move. "To my knowl-cizing extreme leftist groups, especially edge, there is no evidence of the Univer-UCAR, and that (levelling such criticism} si~}1 influencing editorial policy at could be ... [so} corttroversial [aJ thing to W,c;BN," said Schuller. do that it would constitute a reckless> I There is "not a problem with PC to usage of the airwaves on my part .. ~ tlJe extent that Des Preston claims," said given the strictures within which the sta: Dwyer. "Allison V an Norman [Dwyer's tion has to operate on the political land- predecessor] was very much a PC Public scape." -- - -. Affairs Director. She would mention to

"In addition," Preston added, former hosts things that they should or should WCBN Public Affairs Director Allison not talk about. I do not tell hosts what to VanNorman "told me that I had no right say ... There are some [at WCBN} who to criticize the Take Back the Night Rally are PC, but as a whole, it is not a prob-on my own show. I challenged her pre- lem," he added. sumption that she had the authority to In contrast to Van Norman, who en-do so in her capacity as the public affairs couraged and discouraged various top:-director. Mattson, who was present on ics, Dwyer. ~fted, he lets the peoe,le that occasion, said, 'She has the authority putting the show together determine its because I'm giving her the authority.' I content. The pPOblem, he explained, is made no secret of my disdain toward that people atthe station "disagree as to such a blatant act of attempted censor- the extent that the Left needs discus-ship." Her attack, Preston noted, followed sion." Although he admits that the Left his having criticized the march just days has received less criticism since Jesse earlier. Walker and Des Preston abandoned

Eric Whittier's Commentary has "Grey Matters," he clairns that the change come under fire of WCBN management is merely a function of individual hosts' for a ho;t of vague reasons. He also noted topical preferences. "Nobody is telling that, "The greatest problem is that free anyone to not critique the Left," he said. form music programs are not really free Preston disagreed with Dwyer's as-form. Those who set guidelines are resis- sessment of WCBN's present level of tant to black students doing free form. In openness and liberality. "Jim Dwyer ... ,

GRADUATING SENIORS! Send a message to the adm1nistration

to let them know you support students' right to freedom of speech.

said to me that the reason he did not Complaintants allege, however, that reinstate me as the primary host of "Grey unfair treatment has resulted from criti-Matters" is because he knew that I would cizing WCBN's management. Two of five fire Dick Whealey [who was currently WCBN staff members who recently criti-hosting the show] and that that would cized Mattson for removing materials create too much of an internal contro- from the WCBN studios have received versy at the radio station itself. [He also reprimands for ostensibly unrelated ac-knew] that I would subsequently get on tivities. the air and spill the beans as to what had WCBN recently provided DJ service happened, and that Geoff Mattson would for the University Activities Center subsequently fire me for airing dirty laun- (UAC)-sponsored Battle of the Bands. dry on the air ... [As I have said before,) The scheduled DJ backed our at the last I consider Dick Whealey morally unquali- minute, so Mattson took his place. Pri-fied to do the "Grey Matters" program vately-owned materials, inducing tum-because he admitted to me explicitly that tables, had originally been planned for he had said that "Grey Matters" should use, but they became unavailable sud-censor itself against criticisms of certain denly. Mattson consequently borrowed activists or extremists whose stated con- WCBN property. cems the University would act upon to "I DJ-ed at the UAC Battle of the the imperilment of WCBN." Bands. I was filling in for another WCBN

Dwyer again disagreed. "Des Preston DJ who had agreed to do it. The entire thinks that it [PC) is eating away the issue was run by the executive staff and heart of the station, but he is making a Board of Directors of the Campus Broad-

, mountain out of molehill," said Dwyer. casting Network without objection," ex-~ Geoff Mattson, WCBN's Program plained Mattson.

Director, also disagreed that politically Preston maintains, however, that correct content control plagues WCBN. Mattson's profiting from the use of "Unlike the Michigan Review and the WCBN materials reveals a more subtle Michigan Daily, WCBN essentially has no conflict of interests because Mattson had editing," said Mattson. a hand in secUring his opportunity and

Mattson also denied charges that ability to profit. WCBN controls the content of its broad- __ ~' The station has also partially subsi-casts by limiting the thematic freedoR'\'of dized various trips by some of its mem-would,....be talk show hosts. "At WCBN, bers to radio broadcasting conferences in we are always open to new programs. Seattle and Boston. We were never offered by anyone a pub- "It disturbs me that money which lic affairs show discussing affairs of the had been raised to purchase needed sup-African-American community, although plies and equipment was instead used to some people have expressed interest in subsidize various trips to national con-doing such a show. What I tell anyone ferences taken by officers of WCBN," who wants a public affairs show on commented WhittIer. WCBN - and this is [WCBN] policy - is Due to the reluctance of several

· to make a demo tape and then, in writing, sources to speak on the record about the put four show descriptions together to Chris Daley affair, the implicit refusal of show that you have done some research." WCBN to provide critical information, The content of WCBN's talk shows thus and the seemingly intentional avoidance depends heavily upon the volitions of of direct questions by some U- M person-individual hosts,. not those who run the nel, it is difficult to ascertain what actu-. station, acco~<Iing to Mattson. ally took place at the station in the late

Where bilt/fight political divisions 80s. What such gratuitous obfuscation end, however, personal politics begin for on the part of certain individuals illus-Mattson, some have asserted. Discipline trates, however, is the enduring truth of for allegedly unbecoming conduct and Preston's insight into political dynamics insubordinati~J\js not meted out fairly. in general: "Many have said that because

" . .. Preston co~ that some people be- the PC left routinely discredits itself, it

NO SENIOR PLEDGE PR.9GRAM OR ALUMNI DONATIONS UNTIL THE UNtVERSITY

A BOLlSH'E$' .

THE CODE

,. lieve that they have been punished arbi- poses no danger to society or WCBN. In .• :f~:' .. .. trarily, o~l:· even worse, for criticizing my more generous moments, I consider

WCBN's management. this demonstrably false assertion to be "I feel like Des and I are intended to evidence of wishful thinking and the psy-

be examples to keep people from com- chology of denial. In my more sober plaining," said SChuller, adding that the moments, I consider it to be evidence of dlarges broughtagainst him were not for the totalitarianization of the norms of infractions;of staff rules but for "poor social behavior in an age of diminishing judgement~ . political expectations."

· Asked to evaluate the charge that he • has not responded to similar behavior · with similaripunishment, Mattson ex­

plained, "If that is true, it is only because If of the executive staff s interest in being as

- fair as possible. I don't believe it's true."

Adam DeVore is a junior in philosophy and Spanish and editor-in-cltief of the Review.

"'

April 24, 1992

Continued from Page 5

dures that was dosed immediately after it was discovered .... We take this system security stuff seriously, fol~ we don't leave known holes in either the software or the administrative procedures in place any longer than we have to." Burling's policy statement doesn't match with the facts that show the file existed long after it was reported to ITO. When confronted by the Review on April 22, 1992, Burling declined to comment on the issue and told us to talk Virginia Rezmierski. In an interview on April 14, 1992 Rezmierski advised us to direct any technical ques­tions to Burling. Burling also said in USER:FORUM that he doubted Gabriele would have the know-how to actually use this power. According to a response made in USER:FORUM by Greg Dia­mond, Mark Gabriele's full-time job is to crack into computer operating systems to discover holes that his employer can then fix.

The second problem with the system is that system administrators with legiti­mate access to the system have the ability to break the traditional safety mecha­nisms designed to protect the integrity of the whole system. A logging mechanism, known as commandstat, monitors ev­erything a system administrator does. System programmers Dan Hyde and Kathy Madison both admit in Walden to being able to temporarily disable that recording system, do their "dirty work," and then tum commandstat back on. Clearly a more effective safety mecha­nism must be developed.

Finally, the way these people have dealt with the issue is revealing as well. For example, take Howard Chu. In the public forum USER:FPRUM, Chu ad­mits his participation in NEWHA VEN on March 19 when the scandal broke. He describes it as "the moral equivalent of a padded cell, that I could enter and leave at will---6ome place to rant and rave about stresss and frustration out of the main­stream."

Chu goes on in the same response to

O'Connor Continued From Page 1

She will be taking personal donations, though preferably in small amounts. Hagerstrom said that no determination has yet been made regarding a maxi­mum amount that the campaign would accept.

O'Connor herself was unavailable for comment at press time because she was in California visiting her daughter for Easter. She will be back in Ann Arbor on Saturday to paint houses for the "Christmas in April" project.

Joe Coletti is a junior in Asian studies and a contributing editor of the Review.

THE MICHIGAN REVIEW

.,'

\". say that NEWHA YEN "has been 6Q8:d since December '91 or so./I This is simply not the case though. Log files show that NEWHA VEN does still exist and has indeed been accessed as recently as April .

. 21, 1992 by Linda Place. Furthermore, Linda Place in NEWHA YEN on January 1 of this year indicates about New Haven, "Kathy [Madison] was going to have Bob [Parnes] assign a new Confer number (the line 200 thingy) for the UM side and plans to move the conference. I don't know the details as to what happened for sure yet, but I'll let folks know when I do./I Such "inconsistencies" leads one to question Mr. Chu's credibility .

Or take Greg Diamond's response in the public conference USER:FORUM on April 21, 1992. "I am not sure what to say

about the quote, since it appears without context, and I have no idea1wl'tat I was getting at there, but my gu~~s that I was joking, using the silly langua~~tihe one does in a private conversatl6n 'among friends." The quote to whichlM tJfers reads, "Yeah, they'll take care of p'eople who have accounts *legitirnatelt 7 Brian, but what of those of us who scamtherh? Who looks out for *us* in ITO?,,! ' I!>ia­mond is an Asistant Professor of pblitical science at the University of Illinois, Champagn-Urbana.

According to Rezmierski, the Uni­versity has already set a precedent f.dr' monitoring and disciplining question\.1 able files. When asked if the University retains the right to view private files she t responded by pointing out that that ac- f

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If files can be checked for violations of University policy, then why aren't they being checked now? In a democracy de­cisions that influence the public and indi­viduals must be made in the open. When they aren't and remain hidden from view, then public becomes unable to check gov­ernmental power. Since MrS is a pub­licly funded system the U-M community is entitled to know how those funds are used and if they are used improperly.

Chetly Zarko is a junior majoring in economics and political science and a Qusiness manager of the Review.

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8 THE MICHIGAN REVIEW April 23, 1992

, ~i

Music Reviews v,

," ~.t'i~

Buffalo TO:01 Forges Ahead Crusty's Corner

Bu"eloTom Let Me Come Over Beggars Banquet

core a main street rock and roll outfit The guitars often ring out in a way that would make Mascis smile, but many of the tunes on Let Me veer toward country music.

by John J. Miller Indeed, "I'm Not There" has an obvious What happens when your greatest redneck flavor.

influence becomes your greatest hin- . ' Bill Janovitz's heartfelt vocals come drance? Just ask the guys in Buffalo Tom, .'. across powerfully on several tracks, most an Amherst, Massachusett&-based trio : ' potably "Taillights Fade." This gritty, of rockers which has lived uJldemea~ " '~angst-ridden ballad begins in a rather the specter of fellow AmherstianJ. MasclS ., low-key fashion, but builds up into a of Dinosaur Jr. ' passionate and crunching climax. It show-

TheBuffaloTomsoundcarriesstrains cases the band's strong point: making of the trademark guitar noisefest pop~- four minute songs sound epic. larized by Dinosaur. Mascis, in fact, actu-ally produced the first two Buffalo Tom albums. His name, however, is ab~e-(lt from the credits of Let Me Come avp,~in what seems a deliberate attemptJQ ~is­tance the band from the connectioo:which compelled one critic to dub them 1JIAn<r saur Jr ., Jr."

"We carne out of the same scene at the same time a.<; Dinosaur, so of course there will be some commonality," ex­plained drummer Tom Maginnis in a phone interview. 1I After a while it got to be a bit much, though~ Fortunately the whole thing died dow~~/ ,

Let Me Come Over,:()ught to help kick the comparisons. BLt£falo Tom is at its

Murp • miss

.;1

"S

.\!

S with ke"

''Velvet Roof' is a more upbeat num­ber and features a harmonica which dis­tinguishes it from much of the album. The melody recalls "Dancing in the Streets," giving it a familiar and acces­sible feel, but it opens up into a richer, fuller sound than that much-<:overed party favorite. "DarI" and "Saving Grace" are also refreshing rave-ups.

Buffalo Tom recently completed a series of gigs in Europe, and they just embarked upon a six-week American tour. They will play at st. Andrews Hall in Detroit on May 8.

by Crusty Muncher Take the coolest elements from such

diverse contemporary artists as Terence Trent D' Arby, Fishbone, and Seal and match' em up with the heavi­est R&B tracks since the Family Stand's Moon in Scorpio album and you'D get something close to the mu­sic of the creative Bronx Style Bob. His debut, Grandma's Ghost, is ex­tremely accessible and should sell a trillion if there's a hint of justice in the music biz. N'dea Davenport, mem­bers of Fishbone, and H .R. of Bad Brains fame make appearances.

The Indigo Girls' new album, Rites of Passage, will be in the stores next month. The 13 songs are not of the Sing- along variety, like their older material, and Amy and Emily should surprise a few loyal fans by toying with rhythm patterns and incorpo­rating fiddles into a few tunes. "Vir­ginia Woolf" even includes a violin/ cello intro.

",,1·'- The Beyond's Crawl is one of the most creative, non-formulated metal album's since Wrathchild America's 3-D or Mordred's Fools Game. These guys from Derby, England, fuse heavy jazz with Euro-metal and seem to be one of the bigger bands in the Euro­pean underground scene. They' ve done shows over there with Soundgarden, Living Colour, the Chili Peppers and Bullet Lavolta­obviously they' re no joke. The album comes out stateside on May 19.

Peter Murphy Holy Smoke Beggars Banquet Chris Colboum, Bill Janovitz, and Tom Maginnis are Buffalo Tom. Bill is

praying that you come over to st. Andrew's Hall on May 8 for his band's show.

Like Tony Toni Tone, Joe Public claim to be a guitar, drums, and bass playing band, but you'd never know it after listening to their computer­ized and sample-heavy new album. This album is good ole new jack swing/R&B stuff, twice as consistent as anything 3T has ever done. Things do get a little dippy when the guys try to rap, however.

by John J. Miller Peter Murphy's Holy Smoke unfortu­

nately suggests that 1990's remarkable Dt!ep was a fluke rather than a new career direction. Too much of this latest effort, Murphy's fourth solo album, recalls the mostly vapid When the World Fails to Fall Apart. Holy Smoke is full of acceptable background music, but not much imme­diately grips the listener like "Deep Ocean, Vast Sea" or appeals to elegant pop sensibilities like "Cuts You Up."

Whereas Deep consists almost wholly of cohesive and solidly-crafted songs, Holy Smoke contains only ,an occasionally glimmering moment. When ''The Sweet­est Drop" gets its groove in gear, it recalls the power of Murphy's previous effort. "Dream Gone By" opens with cool riff,

but an odd rhythm and fairly tame ch<r rus come to predominate. "Low Room" includes some atmospheriC strumming and streamlined electric overlays, a la some of the more recent Church record­ings, but Murphy never allows the song to develop fully along these lines.

The upbeat "You're So Close" does mark a bright spot. Much like Love Hysten'ds "All Night Long" and "Indigo Eyes," this track counterbalances the more lackluster and sometimes experi­mental numbers. Its driving yet restrained guitar-based rhythm molds a tight base for Murphy's vocal flourishes. One good song does not justify an entire album, though.

Murphy, the wafer-thin former

frontman for the Goth-punksters Bau­haus, possesses a deep baritone voice that often draws comparisons with David Bowie and Iggy Pop. His vocals on Holy Smoke are near-fantastic (the whining moans of "Kill the Hate" are an unforget­table exception); it's mostly the support­ing music which falls short.

Murphy plans to tour the United States in June and July. In concert, he vamps about the stage, completely en­gaged in his performance. His solo cata­log includes enough material for a pow­erful show, and a few choice sprinklings from his work with Bauhaus could only improve things. At the very least, Holy Smoke provides Murphy with an excuse to tour.

Spine of God is the name of the al­bum from the aCid-sludge unit Mon­ster Magnet, who will perform with Soundgarden and Swervedriver in Detroit on May 3. These drugged- up freaks are elegantly doing the grunge thing with a psychedelic twist, kind of a Iron Butterfly-meet&­Mudhoney ... Sweet Lizard llltet are another major label attempt at mak­ing some cash on this overkilled funk-, rock revival the Chilis spearheaded a few years ago. This band is a bit heavier and more industrial than fel­low funkers who have fallen short like the Limbomaniacs Psychefunkapus.

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