Page 4-Friday, October 13, 1978-The Michigan Daily
Fact or fiction in the news
. 0 .
E~ight Yrsa l FrIQm
Eightv-Nine Years of Editorial Freedom
P
By John Ellis
Vol. LIX, No. 32
News Phone: 764-0552
Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan
I
nr c Sc{vu AdAv
1 j
Tenure for Professor Samoff
T HE UNIVERSITY administration
and the Regents have shown time,
and again over the years that they are
not primarily concerned with the needs
of students; the most recent example
is the insultingly insignificant role.
given students in determining the next
University president. Now, however,
even the faculty seems to have turned
against us by denying tenure to one our
finest teachers, Political Science
Assistant Professor Joel Samoff.
Prof. Samoff has been fighting for
tenure for nearly a year now, and twice
he has been denied. Ironically, Monday
night Prof. Samoff was one of seven
faculty members to receive a
distinguished teaching award. He is
widely recognized as one of the finest
instructors in the University, and is
extremely popular with students.
So why has he not yet been made a
full professor? Ostensibly it is because
tenure committee members believe
the quality of his research has not been
up to the University's standards. Even
if this were true, why should his
research play such a major role in the
decision? As a professor, is not his
primary job to teach students-a task
Monday's award shows he has per-
formed admirably.
Apparently, however, Prof. Samoff's
distinguished peer believe doing im-
pressive research, ands thereby giving
the University more prestige is a more
important part of a professor's job
than is teaching students. Such
misguided priorities are yet another
example of the second-class status
relagated to students by the 1Jniver-
sity. This maniacal adherence to the
''publish or perish" dictum has clearly
gotten out of hand when it threatens
the education of students, which should
' by any Universitys foremost function.
Beyond this--argument,- it is by--no
means clear that Prof. Samoff's
research has been inadequate. A sec-
tion of the citation he received Monday
reads, "The important international /
reputation you have achieved in the
fields of African politcs and political
economy is greatly admired by your
colleagues." In support, a group of 30
faculty members from various depar-
tment and 15 campus ministers has
written an open letter to the com-
munity praising Prof. Samoff both for
his academic endeavors, and his con-
tributions to the community as a
whole. In addition to his teaching
duties, Prof. Samoff is an academic
counselor, and also serves the city as a
member of the Ann Arbor Transit
Authority Board. His book, "Tanzania:
Local Politics and the Structure of
Power" is widely respected, and his
articles have appeared in the most
prestigous political science and
African studies publications.
In view of the overwhelming eviden-
ce in support of Prof. Samoff, some ob-
servers have suggested that he is being
denied tenure because of his political
philosophies; Prof. Samoff is an
avowed, Marxist. The University has
repeatedly denied this charge, but it is
difficult to completely ignore under the
circumstances.
But no matter what reason the
political science department has based
its decision upon, one thing is clear:
the concerns of students are being
ignored. Early next week, Prof.
Samoff will once again appeal the
department's ruling, and we strongly
urge all concerned members of the
campus community to show support
for Prof. Samoff and for quality
education at the University by writing
or calling the political science depar-
tment. If Prof. Samoff is denied tenure
again, everyone will lose. "
1-
6
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I
Sometimes the news'seems to
run just behind fiction. Will it be
long before these stories appear
in the news:
A HIGH University'official an-
nounced today that a proposal
would be made at the next Regen-
ts meeting to open a Johan-
nesburg campus of the Univer-
sity of Michigan.
"There will be education in
South Africa whether or not we
are there," the official stated. "I
see no reason why we should stay
out. Even if we did, other
American universities would
probably set up South African
campuses."
Anticipating charges that a U.
of M. presence in South Africa
would be an implicit support of
the apartheid government there,
the official said the University
would adhere to the "McNamara
Principles," named after former
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert
McNamara, now head of the
World Bank.
The McNamara Principles are
derived from the ethical code
which was applied by the U.S.
military during the Vietnam War
and is widely supported in world
banking circles. Under the Prin-
ciples, no American university
operating in South Africa could
take a moral position on any
social issue.
The University will tem-
porarily use space in Johan-
nesburg buildings owned by
American corporations in which
the University holds stock.
Describing the relationship as
"symbiotic," the University of-
ficial said "both the University
and the American corporations in
South Africa equally oppose
apartheid."
When asked about a campus of
the Unviersity located outside the
State of Michigan, the official
said that "the courts have yet to
make a clear ruling" and that the
University would have to wait un-
til "all judicial mechanisms are
exhausted."
"We don't really know yet what
is meant by the words 'of
Michigan' in the University's
name," the official stated.
ON A RELATED subject, the
University announced it had filed
a challenge against the
argued a member of the Univer-
sity's labor negotiating team. He
said that custodians were really
more concerned about preven-
ting heart attacks and that the
work they performed for Univer-
sity departments was secondary.
"Health is much more impor-
tant to most people than work.
Clearly these people are
primarily trying to stay in
shape," the University negoitator
said. If MERC rules that the
custodians are not employees,
the University would not be
A high University official announced today
that a proposal would be made at the next
Regents meeting to open a Johannesburg
campus of the University of Michigan.
ployees Organization (GEO).
IT WAS ALSO reported that 1
University would soon annour
ists position on the rights of U.
M. students who pay tuition.
University attorney has arg
that Michigan students have
educational claims and that t
payment of tuition does not in a
of itself obligate the University
provide specific services.
"Michigan students have ney
placed a high value
education," the Universi
lawyer said. "It could
reasonabley construed th
tuition is a free gift."
Aseked what effect this positi
would have on Univers
operations, University offici
refused to be specific. "We co
not rule out increasing class s
or reducing the length of
academic year," one offi
said, "especially if ;GEO gets
right to bargain for teach
assistants." He denied this
an attempt to pit students
teaching assistants against e
other.
When questioned abq
whether at least some Univers
students or their parents did
pect an education in exchange
their tuition dollars, the sar
University official answer
"with inflation, money has l
and less value. Education has
keep pace."
As a precedent, a Universi
attorney cited the claim th
Native Americans in the Sta
gave the University land in tI
nineteenth century with no e
pectation of return. "If the t
dians gave us all that land f
free, why should students .xpe
an education for a few thousai
dollars."
A need for Alaskan wilderness
I N THE EARLY 1800s you could have
walked from the shore of Lake
Huron to the shore of Lake Michigan
and never be out of the primeval white
pine forest which covered the lower.
peninsula. At that time, Father
Gabriel Richard, the famous Catholic
missionary who helped establish the
University, could be seen harvesting
huge quantities of whitefish from the
Detroit River and bending down
occasionally to drink the water.
The state has changed a great deal
since those days, but even when the
neophyte novelist Ernest Hemingway
lived here, Michigan was still
something of a paradise. When
Hemingway came back to Michigan on
a speaking engagement in the early
fifties, he said then he could never
again live here; he said the state had
been destroyed; it had become too
tame.
The Alaska Lands Bill before the
U.S. Congress will decide whether
Alaska will suffer the same fate as
Michigan. The bill is an attempt by
conservationists and Congress to save
much of the last remaining wilderness
in the U.S. There are two versions of
the bill: a House version and a Senate
version. Both propose setting aside
about 100 million acres of Alaska lands
for various purposes including national
parks, preserves, wild life refuges,
wild river corridors and national
forests.
How many Americans have ever
seen a moose swim across a lake or fell
asleep listening to wolves baying at the
moon? The closer an American was
born to 1978 the less her or his chances
of enjoying the wilderness America
simply because there has been less and
less of it. But most disturbing is that
unless the U.S. Congress acts before
October 14 on the Alaska Lands Bill, no
one will ever have the opportunity to
acres of wilderness lands is worthwhile
or something the federal government
should do.
Some who agree that it would be nice
to save the land as it is now, argue
against the plan on the premise it is a
federal invasion of states' rights. The
two senators from Alaska, M ike
Gravel (D) and Ted Stevens (R) are
spearheading a state-wide campaign
against the bill. They say Alaskans
don't want the measure because it will
prevent industrial growth in the state
and therefore keep Alaska in the
depressed economic condition which
exists today. And if Alaskans don't
want the wilderness bill, what
authority does the federal government
have to force them to accept it.
. About two-thirds of the state of
Alaska belongs to the federal
government, or rather all the people of
the country. When Alaska was made a
state it was allowed to choose a section
about the size of California which it
could control. In other words, the
federal government, by passing the
Alaska Lands Bill, would not be
invading states' rights; Alaskans
would not be cheated out of anything.
In fact, if passed, the bill would give
some federal land to the state of
Alaska.
Others still, argue that most
Americans would never be able to
enjoy Alaska; after all, not many can
afford a trip to Alaska or deep into the
wilderness area. This may be true; not
many Americans would be able to take
advantage of the wilderness area, but
that does not tell us how many would if
they could.
Whether we see these things every
day or never at all, they enrich our
lives and our culture. The wilderness
has always been a special part of
American culture. The wilderness
frontier was first seen as a challenge to
th 11hrnwa man vh frctnri is&,
Custodians Union before the
Michigan Employment Relations
Commission (MERC). the
challenge disputes the claim that
University custodians are em-
ployees and argues that they are
in fact out-patients in the Univer-
sity Hospital's Heart Attack
Prevention Program.
"The level of physical activity
which custodians maintain in
their work far exceeds the mean
for out-patients in the heart at-
tack prevention program,"
obligated to bargain with them.
Asked if the Unviersity would
continue to pay custodians if
MERC rules in the University's
favor, another University official
said, "We would not want them to
stop working. Someone has to do
it. We don't object to paying these
people. We just want them to
know we are doing them a
favor."
MERC is expected to take up
the University's claim against
the custodians after it finishes
work on the University's
challenge to the Graduate Em-
Letters to the Daily
Sam off tenure
To the Daily
Joel Samoff received a
distinguished service award from
the University of Michigan on
Monday, October 9. This
confirms our belief that Samoff is
a valuable member of our
community as a scholar, activist
and teacher.
Joel Samoff came here in 1970
and currently serves as an
assistant professor in the
Political Science Department
and in the Center for Afro-
American and African Studies.
He has also participated
extensively in the Center for
Research on Economic
Development, the Center for
Audio-Visual Education (where
he has assembled one of the best
collections of films on Africa in
this country), and the Center for
Research on Learning and
Teaching. In 1973-75, he taught at
the University of Zambia, where
he chaired the introductory social
science program. He is also a
member of the Ann Arbor
Transportation Authority Board.
Joel Samoff's publications on
Africa are numerous and
Journal of African Historical
Studies, Journal of
Commonwealth and
Comparative Studies, Journal of
Politics, Political Science
Quarterly and Politics and
Society.
Consequently we are much
distressed by the decision of the
Political Science Department to
deny Samoff tenure. We feel that
his exclusion from the University
would deprive us of someone who
has made a distinguished
contribution to University life
and would be a great loss. We
urge that everything possible be
done to keep him on the faculty.
Signatures of University
Faculty and Staff:
ANTIROPOLGY
Michael Taussig
BIOLOGY
John Vandermeer
ECONOMICS
W. H. Locke
Daniel Fusfeld
E. G. Shepherd
Tom Weisskopf
Gavin Wright
ED)UCATION
William Cave
Patricia Theiler
ENG.ISH
LSA COUNSELING
Terrance L. Brown
MATH
Art Schwartz
NATURAL SCIENCE
Bunyan Bryant
James Crowroot
PSYCHOLOGY
Schula Reinharz
RESIDENTIAL COLLEGE
Susan Harding
JIoyce Kornbluh
Marilyn Young
SOCIOLOGY
Mark Chester
Charles Tilly
CAMPUS MINISTERS
Frances Cambria" Sr. Man's
Ann Coleman, Guild House
Don Coleman, Guild House
Hildegard Cummings. Guild -ouse
Margaret Dewey.St. Mary '
Paul Dotson.Ecu menical Center
Andrew Foster. Epis. Can. Loft
Bob Hauert, Ethics & Religion
Charles Irvin.St. Marv sr
Gordor Ward, Lutheran
Shirley Lewis, Ecumenical
Herb Lowe,.Church of God
Graham PattersonFirst Presbyterian
Rabbi Bill Rudolph
Tom Schumaker. Weslev
0
Sexist advertising
To the Daily:
out for a drink or to discuss cj
notes, but in the background, i
seductive dress, with a "Wh
are you coming to bed, why
you always study?" expressi
on her face.
This advertisement
disgusting, representative
slanted ideas about women wh
pervade our society, a
insulting to women. It
disgusting because man
portrayed as active pursuer
intellectual goals where
woman, Cathy, is portrayed
temptress and sex object. It
slanted because it descri
arachaic sex role stereotypes.
The advertisement is insulti
because it attempts to gain t
attention of students, who
female and male, through
advertisement which Ilea
degrades females.
Page 9 is not just
advertisement, it is a blat
editorial statement which v
read and absorbed by thousaz
of people. Your advertisitig st
ha the righttipet arnvel e4