Page 4-Tuesday, April 4, 1978-The Michigan Daily
Eighty-Eight Years of Editorial Freedom
420 Maynard St., Ann Arbor, MI 48109
Vol.. .XXXVIII, No. 146
News Phone: 764-0552
Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan
MSU puts Regents to shame
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L AST WEEK the Michigan State
University (MSU) Trustees voted
unanimously to divest, as soon as it is
in the best interest of the university, in
any corporation with financial ties to
South Africa. And for their bold and
uncompromising action they deserve
Our wholehearted congratulations.
But while we laud the actions of
MSU's governing body, we University
students cannot hide our shame over
fur own Regent's refusal to cut all
business ties with South Africa.
It is significant to note that not only
did MSU take a much more positive
step towards dissociating itself from
the racist Vorster government, but it
tdid so with considerable less prom-
pting from students thant the Regents
faced. When the issue of South African
investments first received national at-
tention last May with the student
prote'st at Stanford, the Daily was
already calling for divestiture, as were
several local groups including the
Carter puts ra
ORE OFTEN than not, when a
U.S. President makes a trip
abroad, few people back home really
know what he's doing it for.
In this case, especially, it is hard to
,predict any concrete benefits for the
United States emerging from President
Carter's seven-day, four country tour.
The purpose of the trip, at least as
projected by Carter aides, and in turn
the news media, seems on the surface
to be one of good will alone.
While the fact that Carter is the first
U.S. President to visit black African
nations is, indeed, exciting, it does not
by itself justify the trip. And we could
have learned that Jimmy Carter can
speak Spanish in many other ways
besides sending him to South America.
So why was this latest trip even
necessary?
Perhaps Carter gave us the answer
himself this weekend when he was in
Lagos, Nigeria. There, in what was
later called a major policy speech, the
President tossed aside the simple
ceremonial tackings of his venture and
lashed out against the white racist
governments still operating in Africa.
The call for black majority rule
throughout all of Africa was the
President's strongest condemnation to
date of the rulers of Rhodesia and South
Africa, who have constantly fought
against any immediate transfer of
power from white to black.
Never has Carter so strongly com-
mitted himself to majority rule - and
never has he done it on the very soil of
the continent where it matters-most.
The statement may have significant
impact.
African Students Association and the
Revolutionary Student Brigade. These
groups demanded swift and moral ac-
tion, but their pleas were generally
ignored. The Regents procrastinated
for nine months, before deciding last
month to retain their South African
holdings.
If the MSU trustees can see the in-
trinsic evil and hypocrisy in continuing
to support a racist government, how is
it that the Regents can be so blind even
to the impassioned cries of hundreds of
troubled students? That is, to be sure,
a question that only the Regents them-
selves may answer. But it is our job, as
concerned students, to continue to pose
that and many other questions, in an
effort to force the Regents to recon-
sider their tacit support of racism.
The success at MSU should buoy the
spirits of all who have worked for
divestiture, and it should spur us on to
even greater success here at thel
University.
tcists on alert
Sunday, the President issued a joint
statement with the Nigeria's leader,
Lieut. Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo, further
condemning a recent Rhodesian
agreement which excludes important
black groups from a future majority
government. For the first time since
the Rhodesian settlement was
proposed, Carter came out strongly
against it. Up until Sunday, the State
Department had been only wishy-
washy in supporting or denouncing the
settlement.
Carter announced that he would in-
stead seek a meeting of all parties in-
volved in the Rhodesian conflict - in-
cluding the black guerrilla and political
interests which have thus far been ex-
cluded-- to arrive at a comprehensive
settlement for black majority rule.
While the Rhodesian meeting idea
may only meet with limited success,
President Carter's call for such a
meeting, and his attacks on racism, in-
dicate he had something more concrete
in mind for his trip to Africa than just
spreading cheers and good will. In fact,
it may be that Carter's strong
statements over the weekend justified
an otherwise spurious trip.
PHOTOGRAPHY STAFF
ALAN. BILINSKY...................,Co-Chief Photographer
ANDY FREEBERG..................Co-Chief Photographer
BRADBENJAMIN......... ..........Staff Photographer
WAYNE CABLE ........................ Staff Photographer
JOHN KNOX.............................. Staff Photographer
PETER SERLING.......................... Staff Photographer
ftc A"e N~1 Rsta~srs
G S
place where they are supposed to
Recent tenure decisions in the
University reflect some distur-
bing trends.
Teaching ability is being ac-
corded a dwindling role during
faculty evaluations, while
criteria for research and scholar-
ship are being rigidified to the
point where the campus is losing
its function as a free marketplace
for diverse ideas.
THESE TRENDS are univer-
sity-wide and not limited to the
This article was submitted by
tlhe c'ampus' Graduate
Association o fPolitical Science
and Un dergraduate Political
Science Association.
departments in LSA, although
some of the most singular tenure
decisions issued recently have
come from that college. The
ultimate result, we feel, can only
be a decline in the quality of
education for graduate and un-
dergraduate departments all
across campus. Such a decline
would bring undesirable con-
sequences not only for the studen-
ts involved, but also for the entire
University community and its
world-wide reputation as a lear-
ning institution.
Over the past couple of years,
the University has lost several
professors highly praised by both
students and fellow faculty
members for their teaching
abilities, through what we feel is
intellectual bias in the tenure
process. A recent case in point is
Mark Chesler in the Sociology
Department. Others are now sur-
facing in the School of Education,
for example.
crippling tr
In the face of tenure decisi
that of Sam off, those
tenure will turn to their 4
and laboratories rather than
their office doors open t
with and educate students.
place where they are supposed to
flourish.
For junior members and poten-
tial faculty members, the con-
' sequences of this intellectual
constriction are important. In the
face of tenure decisions like that
of Samoff, those seeking tenure
will turn to their libraries and
l tor iesrat er =han leaving
ther ffcedoors open to work
with and educate students.
ons like Good teachers elsewhere in the
nation will steer clear of a
seeking University with a dogmatic view
" of its scholarship methodology.
lbrarles Students will also suffer if they
leaving happen to take an ideological
view of the learning process.
o work
However, for a really novel
case, we turn to the Political
Science Department and its
denial of tenure to Joel Samoff.
Samoff's is an unusual case
because of his overwhelming
student support and the high
praise given him previously by
faculty of this University and
others:
" In 1977 the Executive Com-
mittee of the Political Science
Department nominated
Professor Samoff for the "Class
of '23" Teaching Awald, a
University-wide honor.
" Samoff has been nominated
numerous times for the student-
directed "distinguished Faculty
Service Award".
" Formal reaching evaluations
bring him very high marks.
" His research methods and
results are greatly admired by
co-workers and outside scholars,
a fact ignored by the tenured
faculty in its recent decisions,
and also by the Daily in its
coverage of the process.
Even ignoring the lauds from
other sources, it seems a bit
strange that the political science
-faculty can nominate a professor
for-an award one year and then
deny him tenure - not once, but
twice - the next.
WHAT THIS reversal points to,
and what some professors
unashamedly admit, is a de-
emphasis on teaching ability
here. In its place the University
has established a severe
methodological standard which
'O emphasizes quantitative resear-
ch and excludes scholars who
take a more ideological approach
to their studies - people like Joel
Samoff.
We are not negating the impor-
tance of quantitative research
here. What we are objecting to is
a narrowing of the scope and
range of ideas and methods in a
OTHER UNIVERSITIES, such
as Harvard, are becoming aware
of similar problems on their own
turf and are setting up study
committees to examine the com-
flict between research and
education.
We urge the University
faculties to take this approach.
We also urge all University
students to pay close attention to
tenure decisions in their depar-
tments. If you feel that your
faculties are neglecting -the
classroom for the computer, let
them-know your feelings.
Joel Samoff is now.appealing
his tenure denial.,It will undoub-
tedly be a lengthy process which
we must monitor closely if we
don't want to lose one of the best
teachers in the department, and
one of the foremost experts on
African and Third World studies.
Support must come not only
from inside the Political Science
Department. Students have to
make a concerted effort to stop
encroachments on the
educational vae of this Univer-
sity.
LETTERS TO THE DAILY:
Don'tforce profs to retire
0
114 TIME HA6 COAE. 14E WUROS SN6AO. 'rb -MLXOF MAN1 4gNG6:
OF CjQ~AND SPILLS - AND 11fkESR 5141P6-OF OIL CARM1L-AND I4GO'
To The Daily:
Not all professors are
"angered" by the bill to end for-
ced retirement, I am not sure
your story (March 29) backs up
your somewhat emotional
headline, but I am pretty sure
that y9ur headline does a disser-
vice to the University.
What sort of alternative exists?
The Federal government has
already taken its stand on forced
retirement. Do you propose that
academic people be singled out
as the only ones denied such
protection?
The remark that elimination of
forced retirement may work a
hardship on younger faculty
assumes university budgets will
not be increased as a consequen-
ce of the new legislation. That
may be a correct assumption. We
are living now in the most af-
fluent era ever known in the
wealthies nation on earth, ever -
Michigan is among the wealthiest
states in the Union. The
argument that we ought to single
out our teachers for forced
retirement because we cannot af-
ford to do otherwise does not con-
vince me.
Except for the fleeting interval
between Sputnik and the campus
protests, the United States has
never given adequate financial
support to higher education.
Young people have therefore
always had to choose this career
at great personal sacrifice. It's
not all bad - we have, for exam-
ple, escaped some of the
shameful problems that beset the
well-heeled medical profession -
but it's not good, either. In an
especially materialistic culture,
the professors themselves.
-H. G. Haile
Visiting professor in Ger-
man
o.s.s. vs. legal aid
To The Daily:
In a recent Daily article about
the possibility that the Office of
Student Services may close the
Campus Legal Aid Office, O.S.S.
Assistant Vice-President Thomas
Easthope was quoted as saying
that a main question in his mind
was whether or not legal aid was
a service "central to the mission
of the university".
The answer to this question
must be yes. In fact, when com-
pared with other O.S.S. programs
it obviously appears as a key
student service.
Students with legal problems are
students with problems that
interfere with their lives at
the University. It is the
job of the Office of Student Ser-
vices to provide services which
solve student problems and allow
students to concentrate on their
education. The O.S.S. provides
psychological counseling,
religious counseling, counseling
and services for foreign students,
career planning and plcement,
and health service. It sponsors
programs to help with the
specific problems of disabled
students, minority students and
women students. It runs
mediation services which try to
resolve legal and social conflicts
by arbotration. It runs Project
Community, which does such
diverse things as providing tax
counseling to community mem-
bers, providing teachers for
these students have problems as
serious or more serious than
those who use many other O.S.S.
programs. Legal problems can
keep a student from studying,
from enjoying his or her classes
or non-academic life. Some legal
problems which go unresolved
can prevent a student from
staying at the university at all.
I would question why Legal Aid
should be cut back any sooner
than any other O.S.S. program.
None of their programs is 'cen-
tral" to the university in the sen-
se that the university couldn't
survive without them. But each
O.S.S. program is central to the
University's mission in that each
program solves student and
community problems and allows
the university to preserve a
quality educational environment.
Because legal aid solves such
critical and pressing student and
community problems it
especially serves this central
function.
It would be a tragedy for the
students here if the Office of
student Services were to cut this
program.
-Greg Hesterberg
Ann Arbor
yes on funding
To The Daily:
The Tenants Union, Legal Aid,
Housing Law Reform project and
other MSA sponsored programs
are in danger of losing their fun-
ding.
The Student Government elec-
tions which are coming up in the
middle of April will have a
referendum question on the ballot
asking for a required student fee
funded programs, we urge all
students to vote Yes on this
proposal so these programs will
be able to function effectively.
-Members of the Tenants
Union
Ann Arbor
'more garbage'
To The Daily:
I have no idea who is respon-
sible for the new asymmetrical
"work of art" which recently ap-
peared next to the Art Museum,
but I would request him or her to
consult with the University
community before adorning our
campus with more garbage. One
sculpture made out of rusting
scrap metal and another made of
heating ducts is hardly my idea of
how to beautify this place.
- Ma..r (:r..na