Page 4-Thursday, April 12, 1979-The Michigan Daily
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Last Saturday, 18 men tried
to better understand their role as
men in the women's liberation
movement in a workshop held as
part of East Quad's Symposium
on Women's Issues.
They talkedabout men's
liberation, a movement which
says that men can gain from
liberationfrom sex stereotyping
as much as women can. This is
sometimes hard to accomplish,
however, because it means men
must give up their roles as op-
pressors of women. Of course, in
the end, we all gain from an in-
creased understanding of each
other's needs.
"IT USED TO BE that people
couldn't talk openly about things
like sex and relationships," said
one workshop participant. "Roles
developed because peoplegneeded
guidance about things they
couldn'tbtalk about. Nowgwecan
talk about these things more
openly, yet we're trapped by the
same roles."
"Many asked, "Why do we
always have to be the ones to ask
women out on dates?" They said
they were tired of always having to
be aggressive in initiating relation-
ships. This also extends into sex.
Men are often confused when to,
or even if to, make a move, but
can't express this uncertainty
since it would be "unmasculine."
Another man said a friend of
his had approached a woman in
a Florida bar to strike up a con-
versation with her. The women
felt insulted when she found out
all he wanted to do was talk.

By Mark Huck and Mike Taylor

Men seek their
own liberation

BY FREEING men from rigid, men.
preconceived sex roles, men's Another man related his ex-
liberation means an end to these periences with male bonding at a
dehumanizing situations. summer job, describing how
Men's liberation also helps men when men meet they get to know
relate to other men. In this *each other by first assuming
society, competition and basic interests (that is, as men,
masculinity in men are stressed, their common interest in
"Others said that such fears of
gay relationships often prevents
men from forming deep frien-
dships with each other."


prevents men from forming deep
friendships with each other.
ALL AGREED that men's
liberation will improve relation-
ships between men in the future.
Throughout the afternoon,
however, it was clear that more
communication between the
sexes was needed. The men left
the session with questions to ask
women, planning to meet with
them over dinner in East Quad's
Halfway Inn the following
evening.
By 5:30 p.m. Sunday evening,
40 men and women were sitting in
a crowded circle on the stage of
the Halfway Inn. The men opened
the discussion by'relating what
had happened at Saturday's
workshop. Many women respon-
ded to issues the men raised.
One woman said she had been
moved when a male friend told
her he was able to say he loved his
best friend. Another person ob-
served that, while many men ex-
pressed a reluctance. to touch
other men, the subject was never
explored fully. People agreed to
discuss the matter at a future
date.
Many related topics were
discussed, and all agreed that one
of the meeting's chief goals-to
increase communcation between
men and women-had been
achieved. People left full of
energy, confident that increased
communication will lead to each
other's ultimate liberation.

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and we lose sight of the fact that,
as people, we need emotional
support from men as well as
women. One workshop partici-
ant pointed out how "male bon-
ding" in organizations like foot-
ball and other athletic endeavors
provides such support from men,
but two other men disagreed,
saying that it was not emotional
support, but rather acceptance of
a common bond-that of all being

jI

women). Being gay, this man had
no such interest, and as a result,
never got along satisfactorily
with his co-workers.
Several participants com-
plained that society says men
cannot touch each other in frien-
dship, noting that fear of
homosexuality, or homophobia,
is often cited as the root of this
problem. Others said that such
fears of gay relationships often

lv

Mark Huck and
for are Resident1
East Quad.

Mike Tay-
Fellows in

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0 Mt'1ctan :4a eu
420 Maynard St., Ann Arbor, MI 48109
Eighty-Nine Years of Editorial Freedom

'U,

should not hold secret

Vol. LXXXIX, No. 154

News Phone: 764-0552

Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan

ROTC classes should
not receive LSA credit

T HE LSA CURRICULUM committee
voted earlier this week not to ex-
tend academic credit to ROTC Bourses
within the college. The committee's
action was commendable, and the
faculty should uphold this decision
when it is presented to them in the fall.
LSA is one of the only schools in the
University which does not grant credit
for the ROTC courses. Quite simply,
while these courses may be of
academic value, their military orien-;
tation is not compatible with the liberal
arts education that LSA tries to offer
Univrsity students.
A major problem with the courses is
that, because they are taught by
military professionals and not by
professors, they may emphasize the
military aspects in the classes. These
instructors aren't accredited in the
same manner as the college's tenured
faculty, and the college does not con-
trol what they teach.
Another problem with the ROTC
courses is their pre-professional em-
phasis. For the most part, the colleges
which do grant credit for ROTC cour-
ses are the professional
ones-Engineering, Nursing, and Ar-
chitecture, to name a few. But the in-
tent of LSA courses is not to prepare

students for specific professions, but
rather to offer a wide range of liberal
arts courses. And ROTC contradicts
the college's intent.
Finally, ROTC students have unique
financial arrangements in their
relationship to the University as well
as to their particular military branch.
By the time those taking ROTC courses
are juniors and seniors, they will be
receiving a stipend just for being in the
program. If they were to receive
academic credit for their ROTC cour-
ses, it would be the same as giving
credit for something they are paid to
do anyway.
As History Professor John King said
at the curriculum meeting Tuesday,
"While professors in this college have
a sole commitment and loyalty to the
University, ROTC teachers have a
commitment to the military."
However, this does not mean ROTC
courses should be abolished.
Indeed, there is justification for
granting credit for these courses in
some other schools within the Univer-
sity. But they do not belong in LSA. A
liberal arts education should not in-
clude classes in learning how to be a
"professional" soldier.

presid
Sometime in the near future,
interviews of the final candidates
for the University presidency will
begin. Three representatives of
the faculty advisory committee
and two members from both the
student and alumni advisory
committees will join an un-
specified number of Regents in
questioning a group the Board
hopes will be "less than eight
persons."
Unfortunately for everyone but
the members of those four com-
mittees, these final interviews
will be conducted secretly. As a
result, everyone in the University
community except the 43 people
involved in the search process
will be denied the opportunity to
meet and evaluate the person-
who may head the University for
the next ten years. Barring any
information leaks, we will find
out who that person is when the
Regents announce their selec-
tion. We may never find out who
else might have become Univer-
sity president.
ADMITTEDLY, there are valid
arguments for the secret inter-
viewing process the Regents
have selected. According to
University of Wisconsin School of
Education Prof. Joseph Kauf-
fman, who has written a book on
the selection of college and
university presidents, the con-
fidential method is employed "in
order to be able to talk to the
most qualified candidates in the
country. Candidates in important
positions do not wart to subject
themselves to rumors and
assumptions that they might
want to leave." Awkward
questions may be asked. Is the
candidate unhappy in his present
job? Does he consider the school
where he is applying a higher
quality institution?
Even worse, Kauffman ex-
plained, is the possibility that a
candidate might announce inten-
tions of accepting a job at another
university and then not be offered
the job. Aside from the chance

that colleagues might re-examine
the applicant's ability (after all,
another school had just refused
him), the candidate may have
damaged his working relation-
ships with associates by implying
that he may want to quit his
current job.
"If you are the executive of-
ficer of a governing 'board, your
relationship (with .the b,oard),
may never be the saipe'ifyou ina-
dicate you want to leave and then
you don't get it (the position),"
Kauffman said.
BUT THE public's right to
know who is under consideration
for the University's top position
supercedes the fears potential
candidates may have. Since
every member of the University
community will be affected by
the important decisions the
school's president makes, the
names of the final candidates for
the post should be made public so
that those candidates can be
evaluated by the people they will
serve if chosen.
Several universities and.
colleges across the country
believe in this philosophy and
have instituted interviewing
policies in which candidates'
names are announced, and they
are questioned by members of
the groups to which they will be
responsible.
Haverford College, a small,
prestigious ; school outside
Philadelphia, with a strong
Quaker tradition, is one such
college. After an 11-member
search committee narrowed
down an initial pool of 410 in the
school's search for a president in
1977-78, four front-runners were
invited for two-day visits at the
college. The four - Bernard
Harleston, Dean of the faculty in
the Tufts University School of Ar-
ts and Sciences; Neil Grabois,.
Provost of Williams College; An-

ential

drew DeRocco, a professor in the
Institute of Physical Science and
Technology at the University of
Maryland; and Gerhard
Spiegler, professor of religion at
Temple University, were told
they would meet with members
of campus student, faculty, and
administrative groups, and
various interest groups and
would, b interviewed at an open
meeting t which anyone could
attend. Every candidate accep-
ted Haverford's invitation.
"WE FELT IT was par-
ticularly important because this
is a community, and we do tend to
go by consensus along Quaker
lines, that we could not hide these
people from the community.
They had to have their shot," said
Haverford's secretary, John
Gould.
* "Anyone who wasn't willing to
risk that (public interviews),
wasn't ready to be our
president," he said..
Any member of the college's
1,100 students, faculty and staff
who participated in the inter-
views could submit written
evaluations of the candidates.
When the judgments were collec-
ted by the search committee, it
was clear that no candidate had
received overwhelming support
from the college's constituents,
Gould said. The committee then
decided not to recommend any of
the candidates to the school's
Board of Managers (comparable
to University Regents). Instead,
a fifth candidate was invited to
the campus. Robert D. Stevens, a
Tulane University provost,
received great support from the
different campus groups, and
was chosen as president.
ACCORDING TO Harleston,
the ramifications of failing to
receive the job were not serious.
"There are no shackles on
me," he said. "No one held it

By Leonard Bernstein

against me."
Grabois admitted he
acquiesced to the Haverford in-
terview process unwillingly, but
"I felt it was something. I was
willing to do, given Haverford's
requirements." Grabois also said
that public knowledge that he
might leave Williams did not af-
fect his working relationship with
colleagues at Williams when he
wasn't chosen to head Haverford.
AT THE University of Florida
in Gainesville, current president
Robert Marston, the sole can-
didate recommended by the
school's selection committee,
was interviewed publicly before
he was selected by the Board of
Regents in December 1973. Under
the state's "sunshine law," all
policy conducted by the Regents
must be done openly. Marston
then issued a directive that the
selection of lower-level officers
be done in the same manner.
University of Florida
spokesman Hugh Cunningham
was quick to admit that some
potential candidates may have
chosen not to participate in selec-
tions processes because of the
public nature of the proceedings.
But Cunningham said the law
"hasn't hurt."
"We have gotten some of the
best people in these positions
we've ever had in the history of
the university," Cunningham
said.
It is clear that public inter-
views of presidential candidates
is the most responsible policy the
Regents can follow. By opening
up the interviewing of finalists to
the entire University community,
the Regents can promote a wider
diversity of opinions about the
candidates, and help bring dif-
fering University factions
together under the next
president.
Night Editor Leonard Bern-
stein covers the presidential
search process for the Daily.

interviews


Letters

Senate must keep

d
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To the Daily:
Within the next several days,
the Michigan Senate will be
voting on the Wetlands Protec-
tion Bill. This vote will determine
whether Michigan's wetlan-
ds-which include bogs, swamps,
floodplains, and coastal mar-
shes-will receive protection
from the state Department of
Natural Resources (DNR), or
will continue to be destroyed at

space and wildlife.
Besides these recreational
benefits, wetlands also provide
other essential benefits to society
at large. By acting as a holding
basin for stormwater, wetlands
provide effective natural flood
control. Wetlands recharge
groundwater systems with fresh
water and thus keep wells
producing. All in all, the wetlands
provide economic benefits that

makes sense , to prohibi
private developments whi
off the public of our w
heritage.
Now is the time to act
this valuable public resou
must tell our state senat
we will not allow theF
resource to be squande
private gain. Take the1
call Lansing, and let you
be heard.

Wetlands
it those alone among critics with the
iich rip- authority to expouse such un-
ietlands complimentary remarks as
calling the "Bernstein-Comden-
to save Green collaboration a creaky,
rce!We prehistorical behemoth,"
ors that perhaps he belongs on a better
people's newspaper staff than the Daily's.
red for Certainly it would be to your ad-
time to vantage to purge yourself of this
ur voice sloppy and self-indulgent writer
who has neither the experience