The Michigan Daily
Edited and managed by Students at the
University of Michigan
Wednesday, May 14, 1975
News Phone: 764-0552
The flip side of sex bias
THE MALE STUDENT elected "Women in the Law",
Women's Studies Course 370, because he wanted to
discover women's attitudes about their treatment by the
law. He soon discovered that he was not welcome to find
out. The instructor of the course announced in class
that she felt the males would dominate the conversation
in the session if they were allowed to stay in the course.
After discussion, the instructor took an in-class vote on
whether or not the males should be allowed to stay;
only four women raised their hands to indicate they
would be intimidated by the males's presence. Follow-
ing the vote, the instructor asked the male students to
leave.
The instructor later told one of the stunned male
students that his presence in the classroom would make'
enrolled women uncomfortable in discussing certain
class issues, specifically rape. Men were to be excluded
because their presence would diminish profits to other
students, and because men would not benefit from the
course, which was allegedly designed to teach women
how to use the legal tactics men have used for so long.
Yet there will be a male influence in the course even if
males are excuded; one of the major textbooks of the
course, "Sex Roles in Law and Society", is penned by a
man.
TRUE LIBERATION - of both sexes - is based in in-
formation; the fact that some males did elect a
Women's Studies Course seems an indication of their
level of consciousness and desire to learn more than
they know. Those men attempting to educate them-
selves about women in society deserve at the very least
a chance to learn; would that there were many more of
them.
The Women's Studies Program is funded by LSA;
the LSA Faculty Code reads in part: "No College Course
may be restricted in enrollment for non-academic rea-
sons . . ." (Paragraph B204, Sec. 4). The course catalog
listed no prerequisites or special conditions necessary
for enrollment in the course. It was certainly within,
the rights of the three male students to elect that class.
The University established the Women's Studies Pro-
gram to offer courses that focused on women to LSA
students. The Women's Studies Program should consist-
ently recognize men as capable of that focus,
Capitol ipressions
Notes from a D.C. neophyte
By GORDON ATCHESON
WASHINGTON - On f i r s t
impressions this town of offic-
ials and bureaucratic red tape
is America's eastern mecca for
star gazers - those people who
aren't household words but get
some thrill out of trailing,
gawking, and gaping at those
who are.
Of course, the true h o1 y
ground for gapers is Hollywood,
where the St. Laurent and Hal-
ston devotees frolic. Washing-
ton's appeal is different, though,
in that the prey there includes
thosewho have a direct hand in
shaping the path the country
follows.
As hackneyed as it may sound,
walking around the Capitol
Building is actually like seeing
that ninth grade civics course
brought to life.
Senator Hubeirt Humphrey
bounces down one of the high,
arched hallways bending the
ear off an aide - undoubtedly
on the way to some important
hearing, or so I conjecture.
Now no one would mistake
the good senator for a beautiful
person. The high forehead and
the sagging jowls count him out
on that score, but what he says
and does and how he votes per-
force have more impact on the
world than Robert Redford's
smile,
AS HE SCURRIES by, people
waiting for a tour of the majes-
tic building turn, follow him
down the corridor with their
eves and whisper something to
whoever is standing near them,
friend or -stranger.
The star gazers then add one
more name tosthe list they will
recite to the people back home.
En masse, they file into the
Senate and House chambers for
a brief glimpee of government
in action and with 3 little luck
there may be something hap.-
pening on the floor.
It could be limited to an ob-
scure Congressman deliverin~ a
soeech on a strictly parochial
issue to a virtually non-existent
audience.
Then, again, the clan could
be gathering for consideration
of a crucial bill. And the gazer
goes right to work. First sweep
the entire arena for the m o st
famous faces - no reason to
miss Ted Kennedy because he
decides to take a leak.
LOOK BRIEFLY, don't ling-
er. Make sure it's who you
think it is, then move on. You
can always come back and
make a closer inspection. Af-
ter all the biggies have been
sighted check out the leser folk
- maybe the local congressman
or a face-that appears in Time
magazine last week though no
name readily comes to mind.
The genuine gazer is, how-
ever, on the alert all the time
.because somebody - spoken
with a capital 'S' - could turn
up anywhere.
"No one would mis-
take Humphrey for a
beautiful person. The
high forehead and sag-
ging jowls count him
out on that score. But
what he says and does
and how he votes per-
force have a greater
impact on the world
than Robert. Redford's
smile."
For instance, during my first
afternoon hanging around t h e
Capitol, Kennedy (or at least a
ruddy-faced man I pegged as
him) turned up in the Senate
gallery rather than on the floor,
while giving a tour to a per-
sonal friend.
Similarly, leaving the Capitol,
the cab I was in searlj r an
down Congressman Ron Del-
lums, the flashy Californian. La-
ter I learned that hse had Just
finished a press conference to
explain why the Blak Caucrs
would oppose a measure grant-
ing aid to Vietnamese refugees.-
NOT ONLY do government of-
ficials cavort about the town --
many reporters run hither and
yon making inviting targetsfor
the gazers.
Without -question the o n 1 y
sought-after memb-rs of the
press are the television corre-
spondents, who in many cases
are more recognizable than the
Congressmen. Newspaper re-
porters, however, are totaki for-
gotten because almost no one
can identify them by nanmc let
alone looks.
CBS News' Roger Mudd turn-
ed up in the Senate chambers
and drew attention as he brief-
ly mugged for the crowd. He
spent much of the rest of the
time jawing with the other re-
porters and telling mildly wit-
ty jokes - judging from the re-
sponses.
I'm not quite sure what all cf
this is worth. Tracking down the
Humphrey
celebrities of gove-nment is
entertaining is moderaion but
a steady diet of it leads to
intellectual malnutrition. After
all, what difference does it
make if I've seen these jokers
in the flesh. I'm not msic's bet-
ter off and they don't even
know that they have fallen un-
der my scrutiny.
WHILE I HAVEN'T figured
out the virtues of s'ar gazing,
one of the pitfalls nas become
apparent - after a short
stretch on the look out every-
body begins to seem like some-
body noteworthy.
The characteristics begin to
blur. A dog-eared man with
greying hair and wire-Frained
glasses suddenly becomes Wil-
bur Mills and the tired tourist
from Omaha is transformed in-
to a network commentator.
But I haven't sesn J u d g e
Crater . . . at least not yet.
Gordon Atcheson is Co-
Editor in Chief of The Daily
currently working as a sum-
mer intern with the Knight
Newspapers Washington
Bureau.
Letters to The Daily
censorship
To The Daily:c
ON FEBRUARY 28, 1972,
former President Nixon signed
the Sino-U.S. Joint Communi-
que, which established the cs-
tural exchange program be-
tween the United States a n d
China. We in the U.S.-China
Peoples Friendship Association
of Ann Arbor consider that
event to have been a great step
forward in the development of
friendship between the Amer-
ican and Chinese peoples. In the
years since the signing of the
Shanghai Communique, the ex-
change of scientific and cultural
ideas and experiences has en-
riched our mutual understand-
ing and friendship. - .
We join with the National Ex-
ecutive Committee of the U.S.
- China Peoples Friendship As-
sociation with over forty-five io-
cal associations, in strongly pro-
testing the action of the U.S.
State Department in insisting
on the right to censor the con-
tent of the cultural program,
forcing the last-minute cancel-
lation of the tour. This action of
the State Department was clear-
ly not in keeping with the spirit
of the Shanghai Communique.
The fact that the State Depart-
ment objected to the s o >g
"People of Taiwan Are Our
Brothers" raises great ques-
tion as to the sincerity of the
U.S. recognition in the Snanghai
Communique that Taiwan is an
integral part of China. T h e
song is an expression in the
field of culture of China's cen-
tury long struggle for sndepend-
ence and unification. The ques-
tion of Taiwan and the unifica-
tion of China is an internal mat-
ter for the Chinese people to
settle, in which no other coun-
try has the right to interfere.
THIS ENTIRE regrettabls in-
cident serves to snow o n c e
again, that the con'inued pre-
sence gf the U.S. military si-
stallations in Taiwan and t h e
United States' recognstion of the
KMT regime on Taiwan remain
the major barriers t-> tha nor-
malization of relations between
the U.S. and China and the
growth of economic, cultural,
scientific and people-to-people
contact between our two coun-
tries.
We call upon the U.S. govern-
ment to request the National
Committee on U.S.-China Rela-
tions to re-extend the ,invita-
tion to the Performing A r t s
Troupe of China, and we call
upon the U.S. government to
take immediate steps t"3 imple-
ment, both in letter and spirit,
the Shanghai Communique, of
1972.
-U.S.-China Peoples
Friendship Aasociation
of Ann Arbor
April 10