6
OPINION
. ... ...... ...
Page 4
Thursday, March 24, 1983
The Michigan Daily
I.,
Hillel's views on the
Jv
By Michael Brooks
'Japs': Are they fact or fiction?" This was
the title of a feature article in The Michigan
Daily's Weekend Magazine last month. Accor-
ding to the article, "a 'Jap' . .. is supposedly a
Jewish woman from a wealthy family, loud and
obnoxiously abrasive, but an unbearable
whiner. Shallow and vacuous, she is yet
ruthless and cunning. Since her main purpose
for being in college is to trap some promising
(Jewish) law or medical student into marriage,
she is denying a place here to some guy who
would put a Michigan education to real use."
While acknowledging that the term is clearly
derogatory, the article goes on for three pages
illustrating its use and its "visual validation"
on campus.
The article is not merely offensive or
tasteless. It is also dangerous in that it conveys
the consistent and mistaken impression that
the visual aspect of an obnoxious stereotype is
specifically a Jewish trait.
The Hillel Foundation and many others have
repeatedly asked the Daily to acknowledge its
error of judgment in allowing the article to be
printed as it was written. The Daily has now
formally refused. The Hillel F oundation, in
response to this refusal, is suspending its paid
advertising in the Daily until January, when
the term of the present editorial board ends.
THE ISSUE is not whether a newspaper ar-
ticle offends some or even all of its readers. I
will defend (though perhaps not quite to the
death) the Daily's clear and well-exercised
right to print offensive and tasteless articles.
The issues are whether a responsible paper
should publish an article which rests on false
and dangerous premises, and whether it has
the maturity to admit that it made a mistake in
doing so. The Daily has failed the University
community on both counts.
Editor-in-chief Barry Witt now contends that
the Daily has fulfilled its obligation by
publishing several letters from readers on
February 16. In fact, there has been a per-
sistent expression of dissenting opinion which
the Daily has chosen to ignore.
A PUBLIC MEETING at Hillel on March 2 to
discuss the article, attended by over 70 studen-
ts and faculty, went unreported in the Daily,
even though at least three Daily staff mem-
bers, including Witt and one of the'editorial
page editors, were present. A meeting of 10
students on March 3 to discuss proposed
changes in the local marijuana ordinance was
reported on the front page of the Daily the
following day.
Without the recent continued pressure on the
Daily, its handling of this issue would have
been simply another case of hit-and-run: run-
ning the article, printing a few letters on one
day, and then letting the matter drop, leaving
those who have been publicly slapped in the
face to suffer silently.
'p'9
The Daily mig
of the unnecess
maligned and
acknowledging
that of publishin
IT MIGHT hav
ting out in the c
use of any ste
which hangs a re
on a generalize
does a grave
describes and to
Instead, theI
stand by its deci
was written. It is
the Daily most of
The decision
suspend paid adi
year is not take
be on campus lo
graduated, and
controversy
;ht have begun to repair some and viable student paper is perhaps greatjr
ary damage,' both to those it than theirs.
to its own reputation, by Rather, this action is nothing less than sym-
some responsibility beyond bolic. It says that a paper which will not
g dissenting opinion. acknowledge its irresponsibility in gratuitousIy
insulting Jewish women on this campus-and
ve educated its readers by poin- by extension all Jews and all women-is nrit
learest possible terms that the worthy of our public support.
ereotype; however "benign," The Hillel Foundation has relied heavily upon'
eligious, ethnic, or gender label the Daily to publicize lectures, conferences,
d negative type of behavior, films, meetings, concerts, classes, and other
disservice both to those it events of campus interest, as well as activities.
those who employ it. of particular interest to Jewish students.
Daily has chosen to publicly However difficult it may be, we will not have to
sion to publish the article as it find other means of informing the camp
s a sad day for all of us, and for community about these events.
'f all. Hillel believes that decency and integrity still=
of the Hillel Foundation to count for something. Perhaps the Daily will on-
vertising in the Daily until next ce again come to believe it as well.
n lightly. After all, Hillel will __.
ng after this editorial board has Brooks is the director of the Hillel Foun-
n"r enp fna. '..hB ok L.iZte-irctrjfJhekA.e1JIL
our concern roi a respoliaiule
dation.
I
Edited and managed by students at The University of Michigan
Wasserman
., I
Vol. XCIII, No. 136
420 Maynard St.
Ann Arbor, MI 48109
Editorials represent a majority opinion of the Daily's Editorial Board
Taking affirmative action
CMIZ-ms of cw
CPIKTiC PRIMRY...
(.
WD$ IOU MM -VOT
N AWST ME IN TE
6SER
e<'IGT
ONE. "M ~6-
gCij
-n
000 -
e0000
60
GIVEN THE CURRENT dismal state
of affirmative action at the.
University, the Michigan Law
Review's new program to bring
minorities into its staff is a drop of
good news in a sea of bad. They have
broken a system of meritocracy that
has rigidly excluded minorities in the
past.
Previously, the prestigious journal'
only looked at grades and writing per-
formances in selecting staff. Under the
new program, recommended by the
out oing editorial board and adopted
by the newly elected board, the editors
will offer membership to two minority
students whose writing samples rank
in the top half of those submitted.
While the new president of the Black
Law Students Alliance lauded the
move, dissenters in the outgoing board
said that affirmative action is inap-
propriate for what they called an
"honorary program of advanced
study."
But as the majority of the board
pointed out, the Review is more than
an honorary society; it is a student
journal that is supposed to promote
legal scholarship and train future
lawyers. In that task, it has had only
one black member in the last 17 years.
Anytime factors other than in-
dividual merit are considered in such a
selection process, one risks charges
that quality will decline and that merit
is no longer important, as it should be
in staff selection of a scholarly journal.
But when you have groups who have
so long been discriminated against
because of their race or ethnic
background, remedial action is in or-
der. After years of discrimination
codified in law and societal values; an
organization cannot just make its
classifications neutral and expect such
discrimination to disappear.
The review has recognized this sad
history and has voluntarily taken steps
to redress the problem. Just as with
other candidates, only the top minority
students will be selected, and then only
when they rank in the upper half of all
applicants. The journal's high quality
will surely not be diminished.
It is important in itself that the
editors have taken it upon themselves
to try to remedy a veritable inequality.
At a time when the rest of the Univer-
sity is at best standing still in its affir-
mative action recruitment, the law
review has taken a laudable step for-
ward.
LETTERS TO THE DAILY:
Why is 'Jap 'story in a good' newspaper?.
To the Daily:
Personally, I wasn't so offen-
ded by that article on "Japs" in
the Weekend section a while
back. I was more confused. I.just
couldn't figure-out what it was
doing in a "good newspaper,"
which I assume the Daily thinks
it is.
Thank goodness the Daily's
editor-in-chief has now written a
column to explain it to me
("Guilty as charged; newspapers
are offensive - if you say so,"
Daily, March 16). "Newspapers
exist," Barry Witt points out, "in
part, to create and promote
discussion of the issues that
society faces."
Well, I've got to admit I'm now
even more confused. Gosh, I just
never thought the question of
"'Japs': Are they fact or fic-
tion?" was an issue that our
society faced. I wonder if it will
be important in the upcoming
Presidential race.
But even if "Japs" can be
viewed as one of the major
phenomena of our times, as Witt
implies, the Weekend article of-
fered little insight into this raging,
controversy. It didn't even
promote any intelligent debate
about it. About the ony thing the
article could have promoted -
and did promote, judging from all
the letters - was a debate over
the Daily's printing the thing in
the first place.
Witt says he doesn't think his
paper made a mistake, even
though the story offended a good
many readers. He explains, "By
their very nature, newspapers
are bound to offend some people
every day."
That statement is true of cour-
se - but the Daily head honcho
seems to be forgetting something
very important: Newspapers,
depending on how good they are,
offend people in different ways.
A good newspaper is more
prone to offend the views of+a
reader intellectually, thus
sparking debate over a real issue.
A not-so-good newspaper is more
likely to offend the moral sen-
sibilities of a reader by using sen-
sationalism - the manufacturirng
of an issue out of a trivial thing:'
,In the second case, the
newspaper itself becomes an
issue.
It should seem obvious to which
group the "Jap" article puts the
Daily.
Indeed, some newspapers area
more offensive than others.
- Jon Weisj
March 1$
Daily
generalizations
Are f
TA~T ~6A
To the Daily:
I would like to take this oppor-
tunity to thank you for making
me the first non-conformist Jap
member of the Reagan Youth It
seems that not a day goes by
when the Daily does not insult my
culture, politics or taste. I know
that you have received much
criticism from the Jewish com-
munity for your "Jap" article, so
I realize that enough has been
said.
However, this type of article is
indicative of the generalizations
that the Daily promotes. In a
recent Week in Review column
you called supporters of the
Why pick
To the Daily:
In response to Mr. Witt's
response: his intent is not in
question, it's his attitude.If the
Daily can write an article on
Japs, why not do one on Tops,
Those Oriental People. Or how
about Bawabs, Black Americans
With a (music) Box.
I assume that someone on the
Daily staff may be curious why
all those radicals on campus
dress funny. Do they dress like
1960s kickbacks because it iden-
tifies them with a group? Maybe
they dress in layered, faded
clothing to get attention and
throw their lack of money
Daily needs A
To the Daily:
After reading your March 15th
editorial "Taking the initiative,"
I realized something very impor-
SCRAP petition "Reagan
Youth." In the March 17 article
on the reopening of Make Waves,
you called the store's patrons
"misfitnon-conformists." I
belong to all of these groups, and
find your remarks highly offen-
sive as I feel none of these
stereotypes apply to me.
I hope that in the future the
editors of the Daily will show bet-
ter judgement as slanderous
generalizations such as these
have no place in a responsible
newspaper.
- Andrew J. Ross
March 18
on Japs?
around. Mr. Witt could also find a
staff member to write a piece on
the Hare Krishnas. They are
definitely different, but it's dif-
ficult to find a cute acronym for
them.
Mr. Witt, it is 1983 and World
War Two has been over for
almost 40 years. Why encourage
the type of stereotypical
prejudisms that overwhelmed
our society then? The next time
you select an American minority
to hang on the flagpole, don't let it
touch the ground.
- Laura Hauser
March 16
eal' editorials
to let your writers take a chance,
then why not let an outsider han-
dle this issue for you.
In this weeks "Michigan
Review." sophomore James
To the Daily:
Governor Blanchard has
proposed a 1.5 percent increase in
the state income tax along with
budget cuts amounting to $225
million to cover $675 million of
Michigan's $900 million deficit in
the fiscal year of 1983. The
proposed tax increase has passed
in the state House and is curren-
tly being debated in the Senate.
For the University of Michigan,
the Senate's failure to pass the
tax increase means up to a $30
million cut in state funding bet-
ween May and December 1983. It
should be noted that redirection 1
concerns the redistribution of $20
million over five years - peanuts
compared to an out-and-out loss
of $30 million in the second half of1
1983. The University could not
maintain financial aid to
qualified students, affirmative
action guidelines, salaries for
quality faculty, updated research
facilities - the list goes on - in
the face of such a cut.
The 1.5 percent tax increase is
an absolute necessity for
Michigan to pull out of its
depression and strengthen the
economy, reestablish a reliable
credit standing, rebuild public
facilities, and maintain high
quality educaition. Without thp
tax increase, the $900 milliop
deficit accrued over the past
eight years must be paid for with
deeper, fatal cuts to higher
education, Medicare, and other
social services already operating
at the bare minimum resource
level. Michigan cannot afford to
decimate these services and
destroy its public educatiob
system and expect to survive.
Michigan residents must not
passively watch Michigan crum-
ble under the weight of more
cuts. Come to the Fishbowl today
and write a letter to your
Congress member in support of
the tax increase. The decision
will be made in the Senate by
April 1st.
- Carla Dearinj
Colleen Mullalf
David Schwart$
Jeanne Wecklet
Therese Stanisha
Bruce Belche
The University of Michigan
Higher Education Task Forc#
March21
Aichigan needs tax hike
........................... .. .... :...'':' ">. .
"ih :.;::;;i~ii::i:i.'i ir: ii::";tiii"ii'::}:: iiiri:;::;r:y::"< i iS%;: }f''}Y~r?{}:?^i: :^ii
:..:..::::::::.'::::::. :::::::._:::"......::"i}:::: :._:" v:::::: p::::.::v C ;::ii :i:i::il ii$":i;:+'}:is ..
IY
9
/ " .d . .' , '. ' '' ' *, 'vim :."V , '' _ ' r?£ - :4 N MU I