Lack of quorum halts MSA

Frustrated members of the Michigan Student Assembly left two proposals on the table in a meeting last night, which included comments from University President Lee Bollinger.

Decisions on issues including support for divestment of the University's stock in the tobacco industry and a demand for more information on the removal of RC Prof. Carl Cohen's name from an East Quad reading room had to be postponed. The assembly failed to meet a quorum, the necessary majority of its membership to decide resolution votes.

"Tobacco stocks represent only one percent of the University's endowment," said MSA Rep. Sumeet Karnik, who sponsored a pending resolution to implore the University Board of Regents to divest from tobacco stocks.

"Tobacco companies must receive a University statement that we will not support making people sick," said Karnik, an LSA junior.

The resolution represents a movement that began with research by faculty governing bodies, and is beginning to draw student attention.

The Senate Advisory Committee for University Affairs completed a study of tobacco divestment Sept. 29, 1997, and is actively exploring the possibility among various administrative offices.

A precedent exists in a similar divestment concerning South African related stocks during the time of apartheid, but Bollinger said caution must be exercised.

"This is a hard issue," Bollinger said. "That kind of restriction is rare, and a university has to be careful not to become politicized.

"I will not propose this option to the regents until there has been a sounding of the community," he said. "We can characterize this as an issue of health rather than politics, but it can easily lean the other way."

MSA constituents also engaged in a heated debate over the ideology and character of Cohen, who is against racial preferences. They raised questions about the possible political underpinnings of both the decision to remove his name from the reading room and any new efforts to restore it.

MSA representatives contended that the concerns were immaterial to the resolution at hand.

"The resolution is not about Carl Cohen or affirmative action," said MSA Rackham Rep. Josh Trapani, author of the proposal. "The administration must provide a full explanation."

Bollinger said Cohen's name was removed from the room because of a "procedural lapse" and had no political motivations.

Other representatives were uncertain that the issue can be considered objectively.

"We cannot look at this in a vacuum," said MSA Rep. Shaba Andrich, an LSA junior. "I don't see anything productive in this resolution."

11-04-98