Thumbs up / thumbs down

Thursday, February 19, 1998

Thumbs up / thumbs down

Getting your money for free

Thumbs up to a Senate bill proposing an all-out ban on ATM
surcharges, regardless of the machine’s owner or location. Because
many students are on fixed and low incomes, and have many banks
from hometown accounts, students have been hit hardest by the
outrageous ATM service charges.

Arrests ignore the problem

Thumbs down to the arrest of three students at Michigan State
University on Feb. 10. Seven members of Movimiento Estudiantil
Xicano de Aztlan participated in the protest minutes after MSU
Provost Lou Anna Simon welcomed students to MSU President M. Peter
McPherson’s State of the University address. The protesters
shouted, "Give us the Chicano studies program now, or are you
afraid of an educated Chicano?"

Officers were called in to arrest the protesters because they
interrupted a planned university event, which is a misdemeanor. The
university and McPherson has long been criticized by students and
local residents due to the university’s poor retention of Latino
and Chicano students and because of the lack of a Chicano studies
program.

Nixing rights

Thumbs down to the repeal of a gay-rights law passed last spring
in Maine. The campaign to put an end to gay rights found lots of
support from rural portions of the state, while supporters of gay
rights won in urban areas.

Conservative religious groups failed in an anti-gay rights vote
two years ago and had fought since then to gain the victory.

Pre-election polls revealed that 60 percent of Maine voters
polled were in support of recognizing gay rights, but the anti-gay
rights activists were better able to pool their supporters, most of
whom were drawn from Maine’s conservative religious core. Both
groups plan to continue fighting on each of their platforms.

Thumbs Up/Thumbs Down represents a majority opinion of the Daily
Bruin Editorial Board. Send comments or suggestions to
[email protected]