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NWROC pickets Student Publications Building

About two dozen members of the National Women's Rights Organizing Coalition gathered outside of the Student Publications Building yesterday to protest what they called "a complete racist outrage."

The protesters hoisted signs and called chants in their demonstration against an editorial about the Dental School Three that ran in the Jan. 25 edition of The Michigan Daily.

The editorial, titled "Crying Wolf: `Dental School 3' damage fight against racism,'" focused on the events surrounding the January 1995 firing of three Dental School employees for allegedly falsifying their time cards. The three said they were victims of administrative racism.

After going through an internal grievance process, the case went to arbitration and culminated last month with the reinstatement of the three to different University positions. A neutral arbitrator upheld brief University suspensions of the three employees, citing improprieties in time card records.

The Daily's editorial supported the University's handling of the case.

"We are saying to the Daily that this is not acceptable," said LSA junior Jessica Curtain, an NWROC member.

David Blair, who co-organized the protest and is a member of the Justice for Malice Green Coalition, said the editorial was "bullshit."

"This is how a lot of black students on campus see it," Blair said. "(The Daily) decided they were liars based on nothing."

Daily Editor in Chief Ronnie Glassberg said the paper has not changed its position.

"We stand behind the editorial that was passed by our editorial board and printed in the Daily," Glassberg said.

Curtin said NWROC has four demands of the Daily. She said NWROC will continue to protest the Daily until, "the Daily's policy of being a racist, right-wing, administration mouth-piece" changes.

She said the Daily must also make a formal public apology rescinding the editorial. Curtin said NWROC also demands the immediate addition of an "anti-racist" columnist to the Daily's editorial page.

Curtin said she would prefer to see a member of NWROC in the role because they have been "the most consistent fighters against racism on this campus."

Glassberg said the columnists had already been selected for the current term and no members of NWROC applied. He said their applications would be welcome in the future.

"We always attempt to make room on our editorial page for diverse views from University of Michigan students," he said.

Curtin said the fourth and final demand was that NWROC's letters to the editor be printed in the paper.

She accused the Daily of continually stoking racial tension on campus, adding that the disputed editorial is only one in a "long string of racist decisions."

"We don't read the Daily looking for things to get mad at, but unfortunately we find them," said LSA senior Russell Abutyn.