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Eighty-one years of editorial freedom
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Getting an education--if you're male
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News Phone: 764-0552
Editorials printed in The Michigan Daily express the individual opinions of staff writers
or the editors. This must be noted in all reprints.
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 15, 1972
NIGHT EDITOR: ROSE SUE BERSTEIN
Policing the police plan
A TIE UNIVERSITY moves closer -
. through private meetings -- to final-
i4atiori of plans for a "University Unit"
of the Ann Arbor Police Department,
many questions are being raised that
have not been adequately discussed.
Is this plan the most inexpensive route
the University could have taken? Will
there be etiough men to provide the Uni-
versity with adequate protection?
And most important, how much, if any,
input will students and faculty have over
the operation of the security force?
The University, reacting to criticism
from the University Council and the Stu-
dent Government Council, has agreed to
a very weak compromise proposal. A stu-
dent-faculty advisory board will be set
up to consider any. complaints and to
make recommendations to Frederick Da-
vids, head of the University department
of safety.
Davids in turn will convey these com-
ments to Police Chief Walter Krasny.
Krasny will be under no obligation to fol-
low any of the suggestions.
THE UNIVERSITY community must de-
cide if this is the type of arrangement
they wish to have. Do we wish to have a
special security force on campus that
may not respond to the special needs of
the University? Perhaps we should have
a binding student-faculty policy board to
oversee the operation of the unit.,
As long as the University and the city
continue to make the decisions in private
meetings and inform concerned commun-
ity members after the decisions have been
made, we will not have a security .force
acceptable to all.
The University may be surprised at the
response the plan may invoke when they
finally present a completed version.
BUT IT SHOULD come as no surprise --
people who are not consulted along
the way can do nothing but react after-
ward.
--PAUL TRAVIS
By ELEANOR LEWIS
]FRESHMEN WOMEN entering coed col-
leges these days have higher grades
and entrance examination scores than do
entering freshmen men.
This is because a predominately male
student body is desired at most coed col-
leges, which admit men with academic
records ' and qualifications poorer than
those of many rejected females.
In the fall of 1971, the U.S. House of
Representatives narrowly passed, 194 to
189, the Erlenborn Amendment to the
Higher Education Act of 1971. The orig-
inal bill had prohibited any quotas on sex
when admitting students to college if the
school already had at least 10 per cent of
the minority sex in its current enrollment.
The Erlenborn Amendment to the bill de-
leted that prohibition, allowing sex to con-
tinue to be a legitimate criterion for ad-
mission to coed colleges.
The Erlenborn Amendment had the of-
ficial support of the American Association
of Universities as well as the backing of
Yale, Princeton, Harvard, and Dartmouth.
Another supporter was Father Hesburgh,
President of Notre Dame University and
Chairman of the U.S. Civil Rights Com-
mission.
Early this month however, the Senate
voted to deny federal funds to public col-
legestand universities that discriminate
against women in their admissions pro-
cedures. Thus, discrimination without fed-
eral sanctions may only continue at pri-
vate undergraduate schools, maritime and
military schools and academics, and
church affiliated institutions where coedu-
cation would be "inconsistent with relig-
ious tenets."
SEVERAL JUSTIFICATIONS are offer-
ed for an admissions policy that includes
sex as a criterion: Differences in the
ratio of men to women students contri-
butes to the diversity among institutions;
male alumni contribute more money to
their alma maters than do females; hav-
ing more women would change the curri-
culum because women take more social
science and humanities courses.
All of these reasons were cited by the
official statement outlining Harvard's
views on the Amendment; and Har-
vard's president Derek Dok, cited the last
two in the Oct. 6, 1971 Harvard Crimson
to explain why Harvard and Radcliffe can-
not have an equal number of students.
BECAUSE THESE reasons are part of
the conventional 'wisdom', it may be worth
examining the validity of each.
Differences in the ratio of male to fe-
male students contributes to the diversity
among institutions.
In theory this may be a valid argu-
ment, but the fact that its operation al-
most always favors males makes it a
discriminatory policy. It is the rare school
that decreases the number of male stu-
dents to increase the number of female
students.
Officials at both Harvard and Yale have
been quoted in recent years to the effect
StatistiC
Time Magazine this week re-
ports that in 1970 about 50.5 per
cent of American high school
graduates were girls, but only 41
per cent of ,the people enrolling
in college that year were women.
Time goes on to cite Stan-
ford's quota of 60 per cent males,
and Princeton's figure of three
men to one woman.
Women get an average of only
s report
$518 annually in scholarship
and financial aid as compared
to a $760 average for men, Time
reports.
"And although more women
than ever received bachelor's de-
grees in 1970 (344,465)," Time
says, "the percentage of recipi-
ents who were female (43 per
cent) was actually lower than
in 1899 (53 per cent)."
Sgthe people?
that not one qualified man would be denied
admission to either school because of the
increased admission of women. Thus the
enrollment of women only increases when
the total enrollment of the school is in-
creased.
Furthermore, while the r a t i o of men
to women varies from school to school,
there is no indication that this variety per
se is of any particular educational value.
Without doubt it affects the social life of
the student body, for the way it operates
it assures a scarcity of women, but any
other effects are unknown and unresearch-
ed.
Diversity and freedom to differ are words
with an intrinsic appeal to Americans.
They reaffirm our feelings that we have op-
tions and that we have control over them.
But in this case these words are being used
to support an action that denies control and
freedom to women by denying them equal
access with men to a college education.
This is particularly serious at a time when
an increasing number of women's schools
are becoming coed and subsequently ad-
mitting fewer women. It is an interesting
commentary on the degree of institu-4
tional misogony that when women's schools
become coed they decrease the number of
women they admit, whereas when men's
schools become coed they usually increase
their overall enrollment to avoid any re-
duction in the number of males admitted.
MALE ALUMNI contribute more to their
alma mater than females.
The appropriateness of using future earn-
ing potential as a. criterion for admission
is highly questionable. If this reason were
strictly applied, blacks and 'other minor-
ities would not fare well in admissions pro-
cedures, yet most institutions are spend-
ing a great deal of money to recruit minor-
ity students.
Furthermore, a study of alumni contribu-
tions might reveal that more important
than a student's sex in predicting future
contributions is the student's family back-
ground and social class, and students from
rich families give more than students from
poor families.
How much alumni can contribute is pro-
bably also determined in large part by
how much they earn. Countless studies
have reported that regardless of their edu-
cation, occupation, age, or race, women
earn less than men.
Given that, how could they be expected
to contribute as much as their male coun-
terparts?
Using recent civil rights legislation,
many women have started filing for back
pay and pay raises to make their salaries
equal to their male coworkers. Complain-
ing individuals and groups have done ex-
tensive research and can now verify that
women are hired at lower starting salaries,
receive fewer promotions, smaller raises,
and seldom make as much as a male do-'
ing the same work.
A major battle for equal pay for equal
work is now being waged at most large
universities, for hundreds of sex discrim-
ination complaints have been filed with
the U.S. Department of Health, Education,
and Welfare's Office For Civil Rights. The
Harvard Crimson (Oct. 6, 1971), published
a December; 1970 letter sent to Harvard's
president by the Region Civil Rights Direc-
tor, Office For Civil Rights, HEW.
This letter detailed the results of HEW's
investigation of Harvard's treatment of
women employes and reported such find-
ings as:
"Of particular note is the group of
women working under the job classifi-
cation 'Research Assistant' and 'Re-
search Associate' . . . Harvard isabene-
fiting from the academic talents of
these highly trained women while deny-
ing them status and pay commensurate
with their work . . . women by and
large had more advanced education and
related work experience than men."
"In most instances, the males were
paid salaries equal to or more than
their higher educated and more exper-
ienced female counterparts."
Thus on the one hand colleges' and
universities use sex as a criterion for ad-
mission because women will not contri-
bute as much to the' alumni fund, while
on the other hand paying their women em-
ployes less.
The logic behind such a two-faced pohcy
is surprisingly fuzzy,, especially -oming
from such will educated males. Obviously
one's ability to contribute to any fund
is strongly determined by what he or she
is paid.
If universities want larger contributions
from their women graduates, they should
pay their educated female staff members
as much as they pay males. If all in-
stitutions do this, and HEW's investiga-
tions may well force them to, women would
be in a position to consider contributing
as much as men.
One could, 'of course, ask why women
should contribute money to their coed
alma maters until these institutions stop
favoring male applicants. After all, if a
woman is held in such low esteem by these.
institutions, withholding contributions may
be the' one way she can retaliate against
those who tolerated her only as some sort
of grudging token to equality.
MORE WOMEN students would a Ite r
the curriculum because they take more
science and humanities and social sciences
courses.
Courses are subject to swings in popular-
ity and facilities routinely adjust to stu-
dents' demands. For example, currently
ecology courses have surged in popularity
while interest in language courses nas de-
clined. Some requirements are eliminated
and others added as a matter of routine.
New programs are started and old' ones
discarded.
This is a normal part of as institution's
history and a measure of its flexibility
and desire to be relevant and responsive
to students' needs and interests.
Curriculum changes made because more
women are on campus would surely be no
more serious or dramatic than any of the
other changes made to reflect students'
preferences, be they because current en-
rollment has a higher percentage of black
athletic, poor, or pragmatic students.
Furthermore the favoring of humanities
and social science courses by women is
but another example, of the effect of sex
typing on one's personal development.
Women are not inherently better than
men in these subjects, but their upbring-
ing and experiences ordinarily m a k e
them less interested in the sciences and
mathematics.
Hopefully, as the influence of traditional
sex role norms on a child's early develop-
ment decreases, we will see men and
women enrolled with equal frequency in all
areas of study.
THE REASONS -CITED for permitting
discrimination in college' admissions are
neither rational nor defensible. Rather,
they represent prejudice and bigotry in
people who, ought to know better.
If there is any value in a college educa-
tion, the administrators of all our col-
leges and universities should reverse their
position and work for the passage of a bill
,prohibiting discrimination on the- basis
of sex in any university procedure.
Eleanor Lwis is a graduate studeti
ini psychology, specializing in the psy-
chology. of women.
I
TOMORROW NIGHT Student Govern-
ment Council will probably hold a
very brief meeting, adjourning early so
that its campaigning members can re-
turn to their leaflets and legends.
During election campaigns, ' people
sometimes stop and wonder what the
campaigners have done for them pre-
viously to merit loyalty. And, while we
are in the midst of an SGC campaign, it's
as good a time as any to wonder what
Council has been doing for us.
In the past two months SGC has done
many things. Just ask a Council mem-
ber. Or read a campaign poster. Either
one will tell you what that side thinks
it's done of value and what the opposi-
tion has done to harm you.
BUT WHAT has really happened at
those interminable Thursday night
sessions?
A meat co-op has been started. And
finished. Presidential candidate Bill Ja-
cobs, now Vice President for Grocery
Services, tried to get wholesale meat
prices on campus, but lack of student in-
terest in this limited food co-op idea,
along with lack of prudent planning, led
to this project's early demise.
There are food co-ops in town, inde-
pendent of SC, with which Council
could have collaborated to offer a truly
comprehensive and flexible program.
There's the People's Food Co-op, for
grains, oils, honey, nuts, and the like, the
Rainbow People's fruit and vegetable co-
op, and the floating itemized fruit and
vegetable co-op.
These other co-ops survive because
they are actual co-ops; their members
work to provide their services, rather
than allowing the operation of a veritable
order-taking store with sales persons and
customers. A genuine co-op has no sales
persons or customers, but rather members.
Students voted last fall for better gro-
cery services. But did SGC really provide
them?
ANOTHER ISSUE last fall was student
representation on faculty and admin-
istrative advisory committees. Faculty
members had complained that their com-
mittees wanted student input, and
moderate students wanted to provide that
input, yet Council voted not to appoint
students to serve as administrative tok-
ens who would grant legitimacy to the
"input" theory.
But not too long ago, last Feb. 17, SGC,
voted to approve a slate of eight appli-
cants for-various advisory units. The ap-
plicants had replied to an ad in The
Daily; only one was- turned away - told
to come back with more experience -
but when SGC members questioned some
of them, the applicants seemed to have
scanty information on the purpose and
function of the committees to which they
applied.
In fact, one of the new student repre-
sentatives on the Research Policies Com-
mittee felt it all right to permit Defense
Department Secret contracting because,
he said, the DOD is a handy agency -
it can provide funding for projects hav-
ing no relation to defense that might
otherwise go unfunded.
So Council went ahead and appointed
a group of hardly screened students, and
appointed more at the last three meet-
ings. Now it tells us we have student rep-
resentation throughout the University.
WHAT ELSE has SGC done for us
lately?
Do we want SGC to do any more for us?
-ROSE SUE BERSTEIN
4,
Letters: Backing the
black housing unit
Gridiron Club: Eating it
SOME OF Washington's more interest-
ing political battles are not fought on
conventional battlefields.
For example, one of the lighter skir-
mishes in the war-between-the-sexes is
now being pressed at, of all places, the
Gridiron Club, prestigious Washington
bastion of male journalism.
Each year the Gridiron Club holds 'a
dinner - it's considered a status sym-
bol to be invited. But this year, the in-
vitations have been turned down by nine
of the 18 women to whom the once-in-
A-lifetime offer was extended, and by
several male invitees as well.
"Gentlemen, guess who's not coming to
dinner," Presidential candidate Shirley
Chisholm wrote.-
Other presidential candidates rejecting
the offer are George McGovern and Ed
Muskie, who say the club discriminates,
and John Lindsay, and Wilbur Mills, who
didn't comment on their reasons.
Among the female stars wholve decid-
ed to go without the Gridiron Club's meal
of the noted figures who do deign to dine
in the normally stag splendor of the club.
Among them is that supposedly highly
principled (but sometimes hypocritical)
candidate Hubert Humphrey, who will
not only eat, but will also serve as a guest
speaker.
Another who intends to attend is Mich-
igan's own Rep. Martha Griffiths. She'll
be joined by Reps. Edith Green from
Oregon and Lenor Sullivan from Missouri,
both Democrats, unless the Journalists
for Professional Equality or their con-
sciences get to them before the April 8
festivities.
The Journalists for Professional Equal-
ity, a group that has protested Gridiron
Club's members' tax-deductible dues sta-
tus, saying the club is professional and
therefore can have tax-exemptions but
no discrimination, or it is social and can
have discrimination plus taxation.
t-_ _ _~ _ V_ ._ _ _ .. . .
To The Daily:
THE ANN ARBOR Branch of
the Young Workers Liberation
League fully supports the d e-
mands initiated by the South Quad
Minority Council and the Black
Women of Stockwell for the crea-
tion of Afro-American and African
cultural living units.
These demands focus on the rac-
ist neglect of the University in re-
gard to the situation of black stu-
dents on campus, and provide the
basis for beginning to correct the
injustice.
The racism of the University
has taken many forms. For in-
stance, in spite of the number
of crimes being equal or greater
in a number of 'other dorms,
South Quad has had the most in-
tensive security this past year.
This amounts to the University
saying that because more black
students live at South Quad, there
is a greater threat of criminal ac-
tivity there.
The facts prove otherwise. East
Quad, a dorm with a higher per-
cent of white students, has a,
higher rate of crime than South.
These facts prove that toe Uni-
versity's acts which attempt to
link crime with black students are
false; and have served to whip up
racist sentiments, rather than
provide security for students.
Furthermore, we point out that
the "security" at South Q u a d
has resulted in harassment of
black students, not their protec-
tion.
Also, there have been many in-
stances in the dorms where black
students have been called racist
and defamatory names. Yet there
has been inadequate effort by the
housing office to correct these
instances and prevent their re-oc-
currence.
The black students, in their de-
mands and subsequent explana-
tions, have listed many other veri-
fied racist acts and omissions by
the Housing Office and white stu-
dents.
Finally, some have said that
these proposals are segregation-
ist. The facts prove otherwise. The
purpose of these units is to pro-
vide a living experience in Afro-
American culture to University
students regardless of color.
The units are open to sensitive
white students, and already a sub-
stantial number of white students
have applied for admission to
these units.
Lee Gill, leader of the South
Quad Minority Council, has called
for individual and collective ex-
pressions of suport for the pro-
posals from the students of the
University.
We urge all students to call
Housing director John Feldkamp
and University President Fleming
and express their support.
-Young Workers Liberation
League,
Ann Arbor Branch
March 13
Daily distortion?
To The Daily:
ONCE AGAIN The Daily h a s
shown its predilection for distor-
tion.
Once again it is subtle. In the
March 2 issue there ran an arti-
cle titled "City Dems ask more
spending in spite of increasing de-
ficit."
The article went on to explain
-or if you prefertsuggest why
the city Democrats had complet-
ed a platform which is seriously
impractical.
Quote after quote is provided
as evidence for the impracticality.
Health care, growth policy and
marijuana laws arehmentioned as
areas in which the Democrats
pledge change, then a quote is
given which would damage t h e
plank's credibility.
Perhaps - perhaps - this is
true. What is unfortunate is the
fact that The Daily chose to run
this article. unaccomnanied by
E t
.,
"The President just set our release date...
The day after the election !"
No mention is made of this. The
reader carries. the impression the
Democrats are impractical - and
of course.next time vrn rnd
Old times
To The Daily:
mercy. Thata
brother; he is
years hence.)
man is not your
you." (Twenty-two
years hence.)