vol_10_no_15 by Michigan Review

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

:: . Protes~:s l?'y' UCAR, in conjunction .. , ~~e Black.Action Movement II (BAM The Growth of Faction On Campus . )\~);, dte~ incre~ attention to radal tenBack 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 Diswhich can only be received in the U-M's 'Cii~l~ AIlcl DiSCriminatory Harassdormitories, aired two radst jokes durrneht,)th~'f;r\'@ ~h restrictions of which ing the wee hours of the morning. There ha"~ ~mce\l;leet1 declared unconstituwere no complaints until several weeks tioi\at later, w~en members of the United Coa.. <;,\ ' lition Against Radsm (UCAR) brought a Th~o.-:짜:~Alleged Cover-up tape of the jokes to the attention of the UPet~aps t~1). '~ost shocking revelaM .edministration, and perhaps more . tion rerates.tohow the U-M handled the airing of:a.',song titled "Run, Nigger, Run," importantly, the national press. It was in by ChriS:Daley;ildisc.jockey at WCBN the wake of the WJJX controversy and and the host.of the "Downhome" show. the alleged distribution of racist flyers On December 5, 1987, less than a year that broad-based student support for the United Coalition Against Racism (UCAR) .r>-.j .... finally coalesced. Please See Page 3

management's judgement."

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 NEWHAYEN 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 NEWHAVEN 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. Less than 20 minutes after Taylor posted the segment from NEWHAVEN onto USER:FORUM, Maya Bernstein, a policy consultant with the Office of Man-

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 10year 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 criticisms of excess in the state budget and has worked on obtaining signatures for a

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 University 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~~qip g 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

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April 23, 1992

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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

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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

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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 continMy 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. . . ~.•...Iij ...N: .."..i·.h.' e ';.'.~ ' ed t~at he has. never forBoard of Directors should consIder Chri ~ "rt;la!1t:apph;d for remstatement. 1 ,~'ed.• \a~. e' y afterwards," Preston Daley's reinstatement on the merits of its ~ case, and not in terms of the broader '- I cfaint ' ~o'd •. e down from the Unipolitical pressures to which we're being " .•:;..,.. that reinstatnot in keeping with subjected to either in favor of Chris in ~~ ~.~~~ Daley's reinstatement or against it."1 Fred .th~j}J . 'i 0lI '~ment to diversity. Remley one of two administrative repreWCBN's decision was cited as an exsentatives 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 havt! ~ file. ffY~r~ by the Review to in the \,roader context. The blacks are obtan1, ~¥ess ~-4t~:Q.Imored files and angry. We've heard that the blacks in docudt'~t~ ~~~~~~ unsuccessful. Detroit ~e an~ry'l?ey t~ you're (i .~., 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 phone messages explicitly requesting to order to send the right message - that WCBN and the U-M take the issue of diSCUSS"tne availability-e~such documenracism 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 plauIn an April 21 phone interview, howsible 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 Union, Preston clailT}ed, ~d th \ WCBN said that," he said. "It's no secret that there was a big controversy, and indeed had to "'revisit the Issur .~ t " e were , lines, the issues involved were confused. But their words - and, ~:tt~w' there was no plot on the part of the fire (Daley], or else.'/~ '0 ~ as not about administration's representatives on the returned phone messag~ !in' 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 exhaven't been involved (with WCBN] for ecutive staffers at WCBN, man}:.qf them nearly five years. Emotions were runyoung, 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 obPreston 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 being asked of us, we simply announced happened. They support [U-M professor] 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 hapof the press, that there were no real horpening. That's when I resigned." ror stories [and that it] wasn't like there Censorship on Radio Free Ann was any real force that scared people and Arbor? that forced people to do things - but to several sources affiliAccording that is a plain faced lie," claimed Preston. ated with WCBN, politically motivated At a Board of Directors meeting in censorship has been exercised routinely April, 1988, WCBN reinstated Chris Daley throughout recent lTlOnths. According to over the objections of the U-M's repreJim Dwyer, Public Affairs Director at sentatives on the Board, Frederick Remley WCBN, however, the alleged problems and Kevin Gilmartin, according to Preston. Please See Page 6 Gilmartin was uncertain whether

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April 24, 1992

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t · :\1 '" Ccmtinued From Page 1 ! 't~EfC' how~v~r,:r~er to actions done bel r, . 'fo,e Rezmi~rflki's warning March 19 that Taylor, "without the permission 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 ~hich the ~ letter had subsumed in its in a private electronic conference, inti)' USER:FORUM, a public electronic coodiSctissiqrwfTaylor's MTS conduct. ference at the University of Michigan." ," j WhElni ~onfronted with the two apRezmierski 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 mateauthorization invades the privacy Ofit}- ' , ri~ during the interim period between dividuals or entities that are qeatQrJ/ )" ~ letters, two letters, materials which ~4~ felt violated Conditions of Use. She authors, users, or subjects of the)ht~' 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 NEWHAVEN parlicipaht,t( pnv~cy'; ) it meet Rezmierski's criterion of not enAfter citing th~s,e' 'vioTftt,q~sJ tering personally identifiable information. Not only was this modified file Rezmierski clearly , ~~ts , down )tP~ University's position ¢ her)~tter's ~~mcleared with the).'E> UserAdvocate but it '" cluding paragraph: "Be appriSed that if remains in existence to this day. you enter personally identifiable 'inforThe power of ~ch ambiguous polimation taken from a private forum into a cies to have a silencing effect on exprespublic forum agai~ without the pennission 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 reand the Conditions of Use policy" since "he was a consultant....so he knows the sources at the U~versiJY t>f Mlchigan." Taylor told ~(! Re;il~..q that'he underintent of these policies. Intent? stood the U niv~ts;t,y' s' ':easoning and In view of this pattern of behavior by lTD, it became difficult to escape the appreciated R;pru~~isdear demarcation of what)le :q,)uld and could not conkusion that Taylor's account was repermissibly 90:~He, u,nd~r:stood the probmoved for some unknown political reason. The Review obtained a copy of the lems associa.l~~)th r~leasing "personally 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 comindividua}!f l\~as:~om the posted rnaplaints about NEWHAVEN with the apterial. 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 inAfter examining a copy of formation-without personally identifiNEWHAVEN 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 seca pattern of selective enforcement of Conond fetter dated March 24, this time from ditions of Use. Various employees have LauHJ3urns, the UserAdvocate Manager also abused and ignored their responsiat [tP. This letter notified Taylor that his bilities to the University, computing reMtS£;omputing priveleges had been sources are being used for unintended COtn~etly revoked. This decision was and non-employment related tasks, comjustified on the grounds that" Although puting knowledge and power is being H,e recent communication from Dr. used to harass and intimidate, and employment decisions are affected by the Rezmierski served as a warning, we have 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 informaNEWHA VEN contains several examples of violations that COU by lTD tion and then releasing the contents of a private conference without the consent employees and friends of employees of the participants, with or without perwhich go overlooked for some reason. sonally identifiable information, violated For example, Mark Davis-Craig, MTS Postmaster and member of the ITO Ditheir privacy and the respect for privacy which the community expects." versity Facilitator Selection Committee, The only mentions of specific violaquotes "a dippy comment he [Ed.note: tions of University policy in the second personal information withheld] made in ,

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ccsrAFF 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 DavisCraig in vain. Countless other violations of COU have occurred which have gone unpunished or have been dealt with in a different way than Taylor's violation. The most illustrative example of selective enforcement is Rezmierski's disciplining of Unda Place, organizer of NEWHAVEN and a computing consultant for ITO, for entering into a conference a confidential memo relating to an investigation into employment practices and private conferences. It has been charged that Place entered the Rezmierski memo into WALDEN, a private conference of about people, so that the people on Walden would be able to see for themselves what was transpiring within lTD. (Rezmierski's memo harshly and .:ritically reviews WALDEN, but found nothing improper about its existence and exercise under the current MTS guidelines.) At a later time, Rezmierski reportedly disciplined Place for entering thjj.t." information into Walden because it was a confidential draft. Sources who wish to remain anonymous say that Place was formally reprimanded for entering private information into WALDEN. That 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 Tay 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

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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. Use of Accounts for Unauthorized Purposes When asked about whether it was improper under COU to use accounts intended for work related purposes for private conference, Rezmierski responded that it was. A whole class of these accounts, known as W accounts, are dedicated to ITO staff. These accounts are intended for use in private ITO conferences dedicated to discussion of work related issues, ITO staff communication, and in some cases, programming. It is a known fact among lTD employees that such accounts should not be used for expressly personal uses; this was confirmed in an interview with Rezmierski. In August of 1991, a member of NEWHA VEN suggests that the NEWHAVEN files be put on his account. "I could, maybe, 'put it [NEWHAVEN] on my W account...[eIlipses in original] Any~P! think some snoop might find it and ~'complain (inappropriate use of W account stuff)? [parenthesis in origin all Howard Chu, with the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, responded with, "Heh. Possibly, but so what?" The evidence dearly indicates that the action's ramifications 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."

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Unethical Employment Practices and Harassment

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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 NEWHAVEN 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

ate a false Confer Source file, fake item '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 and response files, and .confer files, and is utterly hypocritical for a DivetslfYlSeat the University since 1987.,Gabriele have their friends $source the file, which locks files like, say, ccid:no[id. lection Committee member, buf~~ hIts obtained or was given special power also advocated viewing other emplOyeeS through the creation of a file called deieted].Confer", and "home:resp.no[id. payroll records. This is against Staidard deleted]" and"home:item.no[id. deleted]." MARK.POWER given an attribute known Practice Guide (of the U-M) and repre.: i as PROT=OFF. The protection off variI will admit (in this forum) to being Guilty sents an invasion of other employeesCpri-'; able gives a person power to run proof aiding, abetting, and spreading such a vacy. It is also a clear that such behavior r \ grams that have special access to the scheme; it was not my original idea, but is a violation of Conditions of Use poliCy; \.' system - programs that can normally I was the one who actually got it in file point 6 defining it as improper to "di- ~ . only be run by sytstem administrators form instead of just roaming around in who have direct accountability to lTD by vulge sensitive personal data." In June of people's minds ... 1989, Davis says, "If you ever want to be virtue of their employment. It is the job of It was probably "wrong", but it got ill/ have a laugh, you should edit an administrator to check all accounts out a lot of frustration, and did force a CPRH:PR.AUDIT, the audit file for the' Mit! files to make sure that all files have confrontation which (somewhat) cleared consultants' payroll program and see how' ! pPdtection on. For five years this file has the air. (maybe that's not the best terrI"i petty he is. There are so many entries for '~iitsisted in the wake of administrative but...) I suppose that other people an extra tenth of an hour." Davis was ' 6~~rsight. Gabriele claims to have never wouldn't have thought of it;, but it unavailable for comment. used the file after he discovered it and wouldn't have worked to annoy anyone reported the "hole" to an lTD staff in else but [identity deleted] .... 1986, yet according to a log file entered Inadequate Security When contacted, Madison said she anCl viewable in the public conference could neither confirm nor deny" having In addition to the unlimited access USER:F0RUM, the file existed as recently that system administrators have, it has made such a statement without having as last year. come to the Review's attention that secuher "copy of the conference in front of Acc6rtiing to Steve Burling on April rity "hol~" exist allowing unauthorized her," Such statements indicate that some 21, in tJSER:FORUM, "The 'bug' that access to system administrator powers group of individuals, including the above Mark diJcovered wasn't a software bug, or unauthorized and unknown use by namect conspired to harass an individual. it was a 'hbie in administrative proceThe intent of the abov~at1ion is clear, it actu~ system administrators. was understood to be "wrong," and the The Review has acquired MTS log , Ple'ase See Page 7 members of NEWHAVEN Who were inevidence that shows that a Mark Gabriele 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 With graduation just around that those with system administrator acthe corner don 't forget that cess are "people who have impeccable Ulrich's Bookstore carries a ethics," complete line of invitatibns, Mark Davis-Craig, previously noted announcements and as an lTD Diversity Selection Committee 1/

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THE MICHIGAN REVIEW

weBN Infection

April 24, 1992

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: ." (3 "~'I . . . 1 said to me that the reason he did not Complaintants allege, however, that fact, theYI.ar~ n;sistant to anyonWefining reinstate me as the primary host of "Grey unfair treatment has resulted from critifree formrq~d.es the white students who Matters" is because he knew that I would cizing WCBN's management. Two of five of censorship and political correctness at run theirJl~tq station. This attitude on the fire Dick Whealey [who was currently WCBN staff members who recently critiWCBN are less severe than some of the part ofth~ WCBN management has ~ad hosting the show] and that that would cized Mattson for removing materials station's detractors claim. very heayy repercussions at the station create too much of an internal contro"The act of censorship involved (in becau~~ ~t allows them to deny many from the WCBN studios have received my caseL" alleged Preston, "obtained versy at the radio station itself. [He also reprimands for ostensibly unrelated acbla£kstUdents air time. Many other black knew] that I would subsequently get on slufleqts~esitate even to attempt to get tivities. from its having been openly expressed to me not once, but several times, by several in~olved in broadcasting on WCBN." the air and spill the beans as to what had WCBN recently provided DJ service for the University Activities Center happened, and that Geoff Mattson would 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 consubsequently fire me for airing dirty laun(UAC)-sponsored Battle of the Bands. could get the station in trouble by crititrol WCBN's every move. "To my knowldry on the air ... [As I have said before,) The scheduled DJ backed our at the last cizing extreme leftist groups, especially edge, there is no evidence of the UniverI consider Dick Whealey morally unqualiminute, so Mattson took his place. PriUCAR, and that (levelling such criticism} si~}1 influencing editorial policy at vately-owned materials, inducing tumfied to do the "Grey Matters" program could be ... [so} corttroversial [aJ thing to because he admitted to me explicitly that W,c;BN," said Schuller. tables, had originally been planned for I There is "not a problem with PC to do that it would constitute a reckless> he had said that "Grey Matters" should use, but they became unavailable sudusage of the airwaves on my part .. ~ tlJe extent that Des Preston claims," said censor itself against criticisms of certain denly. Mattson consequently borrowed Dwyer. "Allison Van Norman [Dwyer's given the strictures within which the sta: activists or extremists whose stated conWCBN property. tion has to operate on the political landpredecessor] was very much a PC Public "I DJ-ed at the UAC Battle of the cems the University would act upon to scape." -- - -. Affairs Director. She would mention to the imperilment of WCBN." Bands. I was filling in for another WCBN "In addition," Preston added, former hosts things that they should or should Dwyer again disagreed. "Des Preston DJ who had agreed to do it. The entire WCBN Public Affairs Director Allison not talk about. I do not tell hosts what to thinks that it [PC) is eating away the issue was run by the executive staff and say ... There are some [at WCBN} who VanNorman "told me that I had no right heart of the station, but he is making a Board of Directors of the Campus Broadto criticize the Take Back the Night Rally are PC, but as a whole, it is not a prob- , mountain out of molehill," said Dwyer. casting Network without objection," exon my own show. I challenged her prelem," he added. ~ Geoff Mattson, WCBN's Program plained Mattson. sumption that she had the authority to In contrast to Van Norman, who enDirector, also disagreed that politically Preston maintains, however, that do so in her capacity as the public affairs couraged and discouraged various top:correct content control plagues WCBN. Mattson's profiting from the use of director. Mattson, who was present on ics, Dwyer. ~fted, he lets the peoe,le "Unlike the Michigan Review and the WCBN materials reveals a more subtle that occasion, said, 'She has the authority putting the show together determine its Michigan Daily, WCBN essentially has no conflict of interests because Mattson had because I'm giving her the authority.' I content. The pPOblem, he explained, is editing," said Mattson. a hand in secUring his opportunity and made no secret of my disdain toward that people atthe station "disagree as to Mattson also denied charges that ability to profit. such a blatant act of attempted censorthe extent that the Left needs discusWCBN controls the content of its broad- __ ~' The station has also partially subsiship." Her attack, Preston noted, followed sion." Although he admits that the Left dized various trips by some of its memcasts by limiting the thematic freedoR'\'of his having criticized the march just days has received less criticism since Jesse would,....be talk show hosts. "At WCBN, bers to radio broadcasting conferences in earlier. Walker and Des Preston abandoned we are always open to new programs. Seattle and Boston. Eric Whittier's Commentary has "Grey Matters," he clairns that the change We were never offered by anyone a pub"It disturbs me that money which come under fire of WCBN management is merely a function of individual hosts' lic affairs show discussing affairs of the had been raised to purchase needed supfor a ho;t of vague reasons. He also noted topical preferences. "Nobody is telling African-American community, although plies and equipment was instead used to that, "The greatest problem is that free anyone to not critique the Left," he said. some people have expressed interest in subsidize various trips to national conform music programs are not really free Preston disagreed with Dwyer's asdoing such a show. What I tell anyone ferences taken by officers of WCBN," form. Those who set guidelines are resissessment of WCBN's present level of who wants a public affairs show on commented WhittIer. tant to black students doing free form. In openness and liberality. "Jim Dwyer ..., 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, and the seemingly intentional avoidance The content of WCBN's talk shows thus depends heavily upon the volitions of of direct questions by some U- M personSend a message to the adm1nistration nel, it is difficult to ascertain what actuindividual hosts,.not those who run the .station, acco~<Iing to Mattson. ally took place at the station in the late to let them know you support Where bilt/fight political divisions 80s. What such gratuitous obfuscation students' right to freedom of speech. on the part of certain individuals illusend, however, personal politics begin for 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 bethe PC left routinely discredits itself, it ,. lieve that have been punished arbiposes 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 psybe examples to keep people from comchology 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 NO SENIOR PLEDGE PR.9GRAM OR social behavior in an age of diminishing judgement~ . political expectations." ALUMNI DONATIONS · Asked to evaluate the charge that he UNTIL THE UNtVERSITY • has not responded to similar behavior · with similaripunishment, Mattson exAdam DeVore is a junior in philosophy A BOLlSH'E$' . plained, "If that is true, it is only because and Spanish and editor-in-cltief of the If of the executive staff s interest in being as Review. - fair as possible. I don't believe it's true."

Continued From Page 3

GRADUATING SENIORS!

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THE CODE

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April 24, 1992

THE MICHIGAN REVIEW

.,'

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

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say that NEWHA YEN "has been 6Q8:d about the quote, since it appears without since December '91 or so./I This is simply context, and I have no idea1wl'tat I was not the case though. Log files show that getting at there, but my gu~~s that I was NEWHA VEN does still exist and has joking, using the silly langua~~tihe one indeed been accessed as recently as April . does in a private conversatl6n 'among friends." The quote to whichlM tJfers . 21, 1992 by Linda Place. Furthermore, reads, "Yeah, they'll take care of p'eople Linda Place in NEWHA YEN on January 1 of this year indicates about New Haven, who have accounts *legitirnatelt 7Brian, "Kathy [Madison] was going to have Bob but what of those of us who scamtherh? Who looks out for *us* in ITO?,,! ' I!>ia[Parnes] assign a new Confer number mond is an Asistant Professor of pblitical (the line 200 thingy) for the UM side and science at the University of Illinois, plans to move the conference. I don't know the details as to what happened for Champagn-Urbana. sure yet, but I'll let folks know when I According to Rezmierski, the Unido./I Such "inconsistencies" leads one to versity has already set a precedent f.dr' monitoring and disciplining question\.1 question Mr. Chu's credibility. Or take Greg Diamond's response in able files. When asked if the University retains the right to view private files she t the public conference USER:FORUM on responded by pointing out that that ac- f April 21, 1992. "I am not sure what to say

tion has been resorted to "four times with the permission of the individual and once without as a last resort." 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. - . i

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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.

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April 23, 1992

THE MICHIGAN REVIEW

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Music Reviews

Crusty's Corner

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Buffalo TO:01 Forges Ahead

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. 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 Chris Colboum, Bill Janovitz, and Tom Maginnis are Buffalo Tom. Bill is swing/R&B stuff, twice as consistent praying that you come over to st. Andrew's Hall on May 8 for his band's show. as anything 3T has ever done. Things do get a little dippy when the guys try to rap, however. but an odd rhythm and fairly tame ch<r frontman for the Goth-punksters Baurus come to predominate. "Low Room" Spine of God is the name of the alhaus, possesses a deep baritone voice includes some atmospheriC strumming bum from the aCid-sludge unit Monthat often draws comparisons with David and streamlined electric overlays, a la ster Magnet, who will perform with Bowie and Iggy Pop. His vocals on Holy some of the more recent Church recordSoundgarden and Swervedriver in Smoke are near-fantastic (the whining ings, but Murphy never allows the song Detroit on May 3. These drugged- up moans of "Kill the Hate" are an unforgetto develop fully along these lines. freaks are elegantly doing the grunge table exception); it's mostly the supportThe upbeat "You're So Close" does thing with a psychedelic twist, kind ing music which falls short. mark a bright spot. Much like Love of a Iron Butterfly-meet&Murphy plans to tour the United Hysten'ds "All Night Long" and "Indigo Mudhoney... Sweet Lizard llltet are States in June and July. In concert, he Eyes," this track counterbalances the another major label attempt at makvamps about the stage, completely enmore lackluster and sometimes experiing some cash on this overkilled funk-, gaged in his performance. His solo catarock revival the Chilis spearheaded a mental numbers. Its driving yet restrained log includes enough material for a powguitar-based rhythm molds a tight base few years ago. This band is a bit erful show, and a few choice sprinklings for Murphy's vocal flourishes. One good heavier and more industrial than felfrom his work with Bauhaus could only song does not justify an entire album, low funkers who have fallen short improve things. At the very least, Holy though. like the Limbomaniacs and Smoke provides Murphy with an excuse Murphy, the wafer-thin former Psychefunkapus. to tour.

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 ' passionate and crunching climax. It showof Dinosaur Jr. 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, actually 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 ~is tance 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 th e comparisons. BLt£falo Tom is at its .\!

Bu"eloTom Let Me Come Over Beggars Banquet

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Peter Murphy Holy Smoke Beggars Banquet

by John J. Miller Peter Murphy's Holy Smoke unfortunately 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,

''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.

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