sie £frIyn Datl
Eighty-Six Years of Editorial Freedom
420 Maynard St., Ann Arbor, M1 48104
Learning: Buried
in
bureaucracy
Wednesday, January 21, 1976
News Phone: 764-0552
Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan
The colorful carcinogen
NEARLY EVERYONE learning the
basic tenets- of nutrition is told
that a healthy diet consists of a bal-
anced selection from the four basic
food groups. But, as, more evidence
comes to light concerning the quality
and content of our pre-packaged,
plastic-coverer edibles, it seems that
many food products may do more to
destroy our bodies than promote
good health.
For instance, evidence has recently
come to light that bacon and other
processed meats may be carcino-
genic (cancer-inducing). One could
start having hashed browns with
eggs and forget the smoky links, but
the problem is not that simple.
On Monday, the Food and Drug'
Administration placed a ban on a
type of food coloring called Red Dye
No. 2 which is used in everything
from red pop to chocolate cake.
S ED DYE NO. 2, the most widely
used food coloring in the United
States, is believed to be carcinogenic.
When administered to rats in large
doses, it- appeared to induce cancer-
ous growths.
Despite the clear danger involved
in the use of this chemical, the food
industry does not seem to be rushing
to protect the health of the con-
sumer.
A spokesperson for the food indus-
try, interviewed on CBS News Mon-
day night, urged consumers to ingest
their already purchased No. 2-color-
ed food "with confidence." CBS
News also reported that while some
companies are cutting off use of the
dye immediately, others are merely
"phasing it out."
It seems the top concern of the
food companies is avoiding bad pub-
licity for themselves, rather than
consumer safety.
WE BELIEVE THE food companies
should stop issuing their pacify-
ing platitudes and make public a
list of all food which contain Red
Dye No. 2. The consumer should be
given the opportunity to decide whe-
ther a swig of red pop is worth the
potential danger.
By PAUL O'DONNELL versiti
ficient
Once upon a time, I applied a pers4
for a job with a copper com- cracy
pany, and part of my applica- ritatin
tion involved having a medical and fo
check-up, getting recommenda- pers.A
tions, meeting height a n d that in
weight requirements, and hav- sity ha
ing to explain why I wanted to guishi
w6rk for the company. Two was.I
weeks after receiving my appli- Counse
cation, a call came through counse
from the admissions bureau ad- said, "
vising me that I had been ac- in the
cepted. Afterha safety tour and you go
a course on how to use the va- maniti
rious tools and first aid devices, signed
we started work. When any em- said "
ploye fell ill or was injured, like h
he was treated at the company you y
health service. Sound like any- card w
place you once applied to? done b
The comparison goes further: are sti
after a certainamount of time old b
on the job, one was rewarded the m,
by moving up, in my case from that w
"chute tapper" to "dynamiter". howev
When this happened, I receiv- stream
ed a certificate that I had suc- whom
cessfully finished my proba- want,i
tionary period, and that I was tarae
invited to join the union . . h. erec
and so on. conent
"what
Perhaps I'm spoiled by hav- to be f
ing been away for almost four studen
years, and certain foreign uni- is ver
Armed)
By DAVID CORTRIGHT
WASHINGTON, D.C. (PNS)-Last July
Daniel "Chappie" James became the
first black officer in U.S. military his-
tory to reach the rank of four-star gen-
eral. At about the same time, the Army
issued an "affirmative action plan" un-
der which the percentage of black offi-
cers would be doubled over a 10-year
period.
Both actions were accompanied by
carefully orchestrated and extensive pub-
licity campaigns and seemed designed
to demonstrate the military's commit-
ment to equal opportunity. Yet while
public attention focused on these an-
nouncements, other less visible develop-
ments indicated a far different reality.
Newly released Pentagon studies and
records from officer promotion boards
show that black officers have been-and
continue to be-subjected to systematic
racism in promotion and assignment
policies.
Black commanders receive consistently
poorer officer efficiency reports (OERs)
and fewer promotions than whites, and
black students hold a comparatively tiny
percentage of available ROTC scholar-
ships. Despite the military's declared in-
tention to increase black representation
in the officer corps, these facts make
any substantial improvement for non-
whites unlikely.
PERHAPS THE MOST damaging Pen-
tagon report is the so-called "Butler
study," which compared black and white
officer efficiency reports over a 15-year
period and discovered a striking pat-
tern of racial bias. The findings of the
Butler study were released to an Army
equal opportunity conference at Mt. Mon-
roe, Va., in 1974, but it took a Free-
dom of Information Act request to ob-
tain full public disclosure of the re-
port this past summer.
A high officer efficiency report is
essential to a military officer's career.
Health
es, if somewhat less ef-
than our own U-M, have
onal, handwritten bureau-
that is somehow less ir-
g than long CRISP lines
rm-letter acceptance pa-
And I'm tempted to say
four years the Univer-
as become even more an-
ng and Kafka-like than it
A couple of example:
eling. In the old days, the
lor looked at your record.
"well, Joe, you look good
science department, but
tta get going on those hu-
ies And when he
your schedule card and
good luck, son," it was
aving your old man tell
our high school report
as "O.K., but you could'a
better in Civics." There
11l a few of these "good
oy" counselors, perhaps
ajority of them are even.
ay. There is no question,
er, that after seeing a
of students, some of
have no idea what they
it is difficult to main-
"well what have we
joviality. As my own
tration advisor put it,
can you say? I do get
riends with some of these
ts I see, but counseling
y tiring." Beyond this
........vp %v;:av:::. : s m "r{4 "::vrvr a S s"lm". "_ :wmw";"
'Having hoped for some kind of specific
comments from my advisor, all I got were
comments any computer could have made:
do your hours, punch the time clock, and at
the end of the pay period (four years at f if-
teen credits per year), you'll get your pay
check (B.A.).'
kind of honest admission that
advising students, many of
whom will never have jobs re-
lating to what they studied, is
difficult, there are occasionally
counselors who make no effort
to conceal the fact that you are
just keeping them from writing
their thesis, book, or critical
strong and weak points of my
background, all I got were com-
ments any computer could have
made. The factory analogy
again: do your hours, punch
the time clock, and at the end
of the pay period (four years at
fifteen credits per year), you'll
get your pay check (B.A.) Un-
no person with dramatic talent
who' could direct the play? Is
there no way to raise four hun-
dred dollars, or to lower the
costs of future productions? To
paraphrase Wimpy,, "I would
gladly give you an ROTC Tues-
day for a Spanish play today."
But I guess the University's
and the government's priorities
on how they spend taxpayer's
money are not the same as
mine.
The study abroad program,
with all its evident advantages,
is also reported .to' be in dan-
ger. As one French prfessor
put it: "I believe it is a worth-
while program, but it has its
enemies in the (Romance Lan-
guages) department." These
programs are just two exam-
ples IJ know of the degrAtation
and factory-ization of the U-M;
I'm sure that students in every
section from Classical Studies
to Computer Programming
could tell similar stories. But
these .two threatened programs
just happened to be the things
I enjoyed the most about, my
U-M career.
Paul O'Donnell is an ISA
senior and a former European
correspondent for The Daily.
review while you sit there ask-
ing them questions about things
you could have learned through
the catalogue.
When asking one advisor what
I needed to be graduated, he re-
plied, "well, you got your cog-
nates and distribution courses,
all you need are two more cour-
ses on the four hundred level."
Having hoped for some kind of
specific comments on the
fortunately, the copper com-
pany's pay checks are, at the
current time, worth more than
LSA undergrad diplomas.,
Another new development is
the disappearance of certain
university programs, such as
the Spanish Department play.
The reason in this case: the de-
parture of the director and the
loss of $400 dollars which the
play incurred last year. Is there
forces shot with racist bias
Busing: Necessary remedy
IN LESS THAN A week, thousands of
Detroit-area pupils will start a
daily routine of climbing up the steps
of yellow school buses to ride to their
newly - desegregated schools. The
change will not be easy for the kids.
In addition to the shock of moving
into new circles of classmates, they
will certainly have to brave some
tension-and violencse between blacks
and whites.
But despite the discomfort the pu-
pils will face, busing has to be. No
other viable way has been advanced
to quickly and efficiently erase the
racial lines along which most urban
schools run. Of course It would be
preferable to desegregate the urban
neighborhoods and send pupils to
their local schools. But for the mo-
ment, that can be nothing more than
a pipe-dream.
In Boston, bused students have
had a hard time getting educated in
the classroom. The fighting in the
halls and in the schoolyards has
spilled over into the classes, and it
is all most teachers can do to keep
order. To ask that they cover the cur-,
TODAY'S STAFF:
News: Gordon Atcheson, Cheryl Pilate,
Sara Rimer, Stephen Selbst, Jim
Tobin.
Editorial Page: Marc Basson, Don
Biddle, Stephen Hersh.
Arts Page: Kevin Counihan, Jeff Sor-
ensen.
Photo Technician: Steve Kagan.
riculum would be asking too much.
NEITHER THE BLACKS nor the
whites in the Boston schools can
take the full blame for the discord;
the emnity has come from both sides.
The important thought to bear in
mind is that the school kids are in-
dividuals, that they are people try-
ing to cope with a difficult situation.
The going will be rough, and there
is no way to smooth it for the stu-
dents.
But as articulated in the Brown
vs. Board of Education case, separate
education is inherently unequal. The
process of desegregation will be un-
comfortable but not to undergo it
would be far less just.
OW t {
Photography Staff
KEN FINK PAULINE LUBENS
Chief Photographer Picture Editor
Editorial Staff
GORDON ATCHESON CHERYL PTLAT
Co-Editors-in-Chief
DAVID BLOMQUIST ................ Arts Editor
BARBARA CORNELL .. Sunday Magazine Editor
PAUL HASKINS.............Editorial Director
JOSEPHINE MARCOTTY Sunday Magazine Editor
SARA RIMER ..........Executive Editor
STEPHEN SELBST .................City Editor
JEFF SORENSON ............. Managing Editor
Daniel James
' lJflaly discrimna~ittor'y
practices in the a r m e d
forces still go unchalleng-
ed. While Chappie James
is raised as a symbol of
black success in the mili-
tary, the Army's own re-
cords indicate that his
fellow o ffic e r s remain
subject to pervasive rac-
ial discrimination'
Without it, his prospects for promotion
are virtually nil.
When Col. D.K. Butler examined OER
scores for nearly all Army majors, lieu-
tenant colonels and colonels from 1956
through 1971, he found that black offi-
cers at all levels received lower scores
Service Handbook:
throughout the entire period.
As the Army summed it up: "A sig-
nificantly larger percentage of black of-
ficers received scores on the lower end
of the OER spectrum than did white
officers. Conversely, a significantly lar-
ger number of white officers received
scores on the upper end of the OER
spectrum than did black officers."
IN THE 1961-68 PERIOD, for example,
32 per cent of all white majors scored
220 or higher of a 240-point scale, while
only 10 per cent of black majors reach-
ed this, plateau. The disparity between
OER scores has declined somewhat in
recent years, but in the 1968-71 period
the white percentage in the 220 or high-,
er range was still almost double that
of black majors.
The same problem apparently also
plagues black officers in the Air Force.
According to a recent analysis reported
in Air Force Times, black OERs dur-
ing the 1967-74 period averaged 8.19 on
a nine-point scale, compared to 8.44
for whites.
The Army's analysis of the Butler study
offered no clear explanation for these
racial differences. The report referred
to "a variety of forms of discriminatory
practices and outlook" but refused to
criticize particular policies.
YET THE BIAS in OER scores can
be traced to specific sources, both indi-.
vidual and system-wide. Since OERs
are written by individual superior offi-
cers, the discrimination seems at least
partially attributable to athe personal
prejudices of high-level military officers.
Institutional practices such as require-
ments for specific levels of schooling
would also work against racial minori-
ties who have been denied the oppor-
tunity for full educational development.
With lower OERs, blacks are advanced
more slowly than whites and usually
languish in the lower grades. As a re-
sult the black officer is twice as like-
ly as his white counterpart to find him-
self forced to retire early -- a victim
of the military's policy of involuntarily
separating; or "RIFing," officers who
fall behind in advancement criteria.
In June 1975, 2801 majors were con-
sidered for possible promotion to lieu-
tenant colonel, with 1,433 actually ad-
vanced. Among white officers, the se-
lection rate was 52.5 per cent, but among
blacks the promotion rate was a dismal
31.8 per cent. The percentage of blacks
forced to retire early was 15.2 per cent,
more than double the 7.1 per cent rate
among whites.
ANOTHER RECENT ARMY investi-
gation disclosed that despite an increase
in minority enrollment at the service
academies, black cadets receive only
two per cent of the Army's four-year
ROTC scholarships.
The officers' committee noted that
these scholarships are based on test
scores and academic achievement -
standards that place those with limited
educational opportunity at a disadvan-
tage - but offered no discussion of
how minority recipients, could be in-
creased. Indeed, the committee recom-
mended that current practices be con-
tinued, despite present disadvantages to
black students and the apparent conflict
between this and the Army's announced
objectives.
Thus, despite some steps to improve
the plight of black officers, many dis-
criminatory practices still g- unchal-
lenged. While Chappie James is raised
as a symbol of black success in the
military, the Army's own records 'indi-
cate that his fellow officers remain
subject to pervasive racial discrimina-
tion.
David Cortriyht writes for the-Center
for National Security Studies in Wash-
ington, D.C. He is the author of Sol-
diers in Revolt, published recently by
Doubleday.
Quelling them crabs
Letters to the Daily
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By SYLVIA HACKER and
NANCY PALCHIK GARWOOD
Question: Can you tell me
somethings about Crabs? I
think I have them.
Answer: Specifically, crabs
are the kind of lice that infect
the public area (there are oth-
ers that live in other areas).
Although they are only about the
size of a pinhead (except when
they are engorged with blood),
they receive their name because
they look like a crab with 3
pairs of claws and 4 pairs of
legs with which they cling to the
pubic hair while they feed from
blood vessels in their host. Al-
though they ordinarily only live
for about 30 days when attached
to a human host, crabs are very
prolific. The adult female lays
about. 3 eggs every day which
hatch after 7 to 9 days.
Crabs are transmitted by close
physical contact, usually by
sexual intercourse although they
may also be contracted by shar-
ing the same bed sheets with
an infested person. Although
some infected individuals ex-
perience no -symptoms, most
experience extreme itching.
Scratching, however, can trans-
mit the crabs, via the fingers,
to other hairy parts of the body.
out a physician's prescription;
however, many of the students
who have used it report it to
be less effective than "Kwell"
and have eventually had to re-
sort to the latter. It is also im-
portant to change clothes aind
bed linen etc. after treatment
to prevent reinfestation. Accord-
ing to most of the literature on
this subject, crabs only live for
about 24 hours when separated
from the human host and so
clothing, sheets etc. not in con-
tact with the body for this period
of time should no longer be in-
fested. However, it has been
our experience here at Health
Service, that there is some
doubt about this 24-hour period.
"Kwell" has just come out with
an insecticide spray which we
now have available on an over-
the-counter basis which can be
used with inanimate objects in-
fected with lice (bedding and
clothes, unless you are inani-
mate) just to be sure that they
are destroyed.
Question: I get the flu every
year. What can be done for this?
Would I need a flu shot?
Answer: Although it is of some
comfort to have somethings hap-
pen to you with such regularity
aches, running nose or cough.
Others refer to intestinal flu
to include abdominal problems
of vomiting, nausea or diarrhea
with or ' without stomach
cramps. Strictly speaking, flu
or influenza is a viral infection
caused by a. specific virus. It
causes symptoms of fever (of-
ten 1020 - 104°), very sore
throat, dry cough, and severe
muscle aches all over the body.
It is quite debilitating and many
people need to stay in bed for
the 4 to 5 days that it lasts.
A flu shot given in the Fall
before the virus is prevalent
can prevent this one illness. We
recommend flu shots for people
who have other medical prob-
lems such as diabetes, chronic
respiratory or cardiac diseases
and for people over the age of
65 who are more likely to be-
come severely ill. However,
healthy young adults can also
take one flu shot. The flu virus
has an unfortunate way of
changing from time to time
making it hard to develop an
effective vaccine for the spe-
cific strain prevalent in any
given year. A flu shot will not
prevent colds since different
viruses (at least 100 different
ones) cause the common cold.
Send any health related
concerns to:
To The Daily
SOME PEOPLE "we
the invitation of the Pa
Liberation Organization'
to the UN Security Coun
bate. Those people shoul
sider whether the stated
the PLO is in accordanc
the stated aims of the
The PLO's official goal
destroy by force a n
state of the U.N., to de
right of self-determinat
the people of this state
ignore the basic right to
all uninvolved people acr
globe.
In an interview publis
the recent issue of Nec
(Jan. 5) with the "foreig
ister" of the PLO, Faro'
doumi, we find the fol
"Question: That clearly
no right for Israel to exi
should the Israelis accen
Answer: With time the
have to . . . the first r
exist is Palestinian .
is no tolerance on our r
Israel because tlere is a
lnaical conflict". Notice
rael is not given a chanc
ther it becomes the
pinst perfect democr
worker's paradise or a
racial ntonia. Just as1
PLO Roman slogan was "Carthage
must be destroyed", so it, is
now: "Israel must be destroy-
lcome" ed". Has there really been any
lestine progress since the Palestinian
(ULO) leader in 1967 -(Shukeiry) called
icil de- for driving the Jews into the
ld con- sea? Or since the Palestinian
aim of leader in 1942 (Al Husseini)
e with planned with Hitler to send all
'J. N. the Jews of Palestine (this is
1 is to before the State of Israeli) to
nember extermination camps, as soon
dy the as Nazi General Ronimell would
ion tb get there?
and to The PRESENT PLO "defence
life of minister", Zuheir Mohsen, re-
oss the cently also had an interview
with a German Newsnapor
shed in ("Die Zeit", 12/12/75); "Ques-
wsweek tion: Do you expect Israel to
gn min- agree to what is in fact national
ik Kad- suicide? Answer: Israelis must
lowing: change their way of thinking.
implies Thev will see this as the only
st. Whv olition when we force them to.
at that? their knees - after we have
ey will smashed them to pieces mili-
right to tarilv". The West German pa-
there ner's headline for the whole in-
part for terview is "They (the Israelis)
an ideo- must kneel down before us (the
that Is- PLO)". Not since Nazi Geri
:e, whe- many has the world heard such
world's srron .a't. foscisit and racist of-
acv, a fiCial d8lnratinns.
multi- Yoram Noter
the old Jan,. 19, 1976
....... ;x,.,. ff; y :u'{tivvht^ C:::.S"n'i 1d'. .? . Sst t '. i ' 2 f. ' ...1 +"30fiR
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