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From: chavey@crystal.UUCP (Darrah Chavey)
Newsgroups: net.college,net.politics
Subject: Re: E.g. Student Gov't Project.
Message-ID: <39@crystal.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 17-Feb-86 18:08:47 EST
Article-I.D.: crystal.39
Posted: Mon Feb 17 18:08:47 1986
Date-Received: Wed, 19-Feb-86 04:25:14 EST
Organization: U of Wisconsin CS Dept
Lines: 47
Xref: watmath net.college:1077 net.politics:13480

> > > I think once again the MSA (Michigan Student Assembly) is getting out of
> > > line.  Someone please cut off their allowance!!!!!!!!
> > > 
> > > Just because a handful of students don't like an organization doesn't mean
> > > they should bar that organization from campus.
> > > ... 
> > 
> > I agree 100 percent with Lori's posting.  What ever happened
> > to freedom of choice!  
> > I believe a person going to college is capable of making a decision
> > about where they want to work after college.  Does the MSA believe
> > everyone at U of M feels the same way about the CIA?  
> 
> As yet another U of M alumnus, I'll add my two cents. The Michigan
> Student Assembly thinks that they represent and lead the opinions
> of an overwhelming majority of students on the Ann Arbor campus.
> Well, it just isn't so. It is rare that MSA elections draw more
> than 10 percent of the student body out to vote. 

As yet another U of M alumni, I wish to speak in favor of the MSA having
the right to attempt to ban the CIA from campus.  I doubt that almost any
major campus has student government elections that get more than 10% voting 
attendance.  We certainly don't get that much at the Univ. of Wisconsin.  
A 10% sample of such a large sample space would be considered representative 
under almost any circumstances (except by people who disagree with the 
decision).  Pollsters make do with much less than that.  Hence I think the MSA 
has the right to view themselves as a representative body, and to proceed under 
those assumptions.

As to the actual banning of the CIA, it is not a matter of restricting a 
students choice of whom to work for.  Banning recruiting on campus does not
prevent the students from seeking out employers they wish to work for.  
It seems reasonable that a college should have the right to forbid at least 
certain kinds of recruiting.  Although we may have to allow the Moonies, the 
IRA, the Nazis, and similar groups the right to speak on campus, I don't think 
the University should be required to give them rooms and give implicit approval
of such organizations.  With a little thought, I suspect most of us can think 
of several groups that we would not want to allow recruiting priveleges on 
campus.  The only question is where to draw the line.  The CIA has engaged
in several illegal activities, activities that Congress had forbidden to them.  
Some people think that the activities of the CIA are onerous enough to place 
them in the same category as the above mentioned groups.  Others of us disagree.
Nevertheless, this is not a case of black and white; attempting to ban one 
group from campus recruiting based on their illegal activities is something 
that most of us could agree with in at least some incarnations.  As the only 
reasonable representative of the student body that there is, the MSA has the 
right to attempt to decide where this line should be drawn.