OPINION
Page 4
bie IAtIbtgan ail
Edited and managed by students at The University of Michigan
Vol. XCI V-No. 40 420 Maynard St.
Ann Arbor, MI 48109
Editorials represent a majority opinion of the Daily's Editorial Board
Hecking Haig's hecklers
Saturday, October 22, 1983
The Michigan Daily
Hosni Mubarak 's
Egypt is
a country in
deep trouble
UNIVERSITIES SERVE as crucial
educators and provide a forum
for a wide and varied range of ideas.
this spirit of education in an atmosphere
of free speech is necessary if the
nation's universities are going to con-
tinue to develop world leaders in all
worthy endeavors.
The treatment given Alexander Haig
by hecklers in the Rackham
Auditorium audience Thursday night
had no place in an academic com-
munity.
The right of free speech and the right
to peaceably assemble are central to
the function of this society under the
Constitution. But with those rights
there is a corresponding duty to allow
others to exercise those same rights.
The members of the audience who con-
stantly interrupted Haig's speech lost
sight of that duty.
We respect the hecklers' right to
protest Haig's stands - to disagree
with his opinions to whatever length
they wish - except when those
protests interfere with Haig's equal:.
right to speak his mind.
Other protesters were able to do this
quite sucessfully. They assembled -
peaceably - and had their chance to
chant slogans and wave banners for all
to see. And though Haig didn't
welcome such behavior, that sort of
protest means the system is working
as it should.
What many of the hecklers may fail
to realize is that by trying to disrupt
Haig's speech they are threatening the
University's ability to bring in a varied
range of viewpoints and speakers. How
many other speakers are going to put up
with this sort of behavior.
The University attempts to fulfill its
function, in part, by inviting Haig and
others to speak. Not allowing them to
speak freely makes achieving that goal
much more difficult. Will former At-
torney General Ramsey Clark receive
the same treatment as Haig this spr-
ing?
The University is supposed to be a
place where people expose themselves
to a broad range of thought, not prac-
tice restricting it.
We don't agree with most of what
Alexander Haig says, but we defend
his right to say it.
By Paul Magnelia
Despite the apparent satisfac-
tion with which both U.S. and
Egyptian officials summed up
President Hosni Mubarak's
recent visit to Washington, Egypt
is a country in deep trouble.
Isolated from its Arab neigh-
bors by the Camp David Accords
and burdened by the Reagan ad-
ministration's failing Mideast
policy, it faces mounting internal
economic and political pressures.
Simply put, Egypt is broke. By
1985 its debt-servicing payment
to the United States will reach $2
billion annually, far beyond its
capacity to pay. As a consequen-
ce, discussions already have
begun between Washington and
Cairo to reschedule Egyptian
loans and to place much of the
military assistance program in a
non-repayable grant category.
NEITHER government has much,
room for maneuver. Any cutback
in U.S. aid, and especially in
military assistance, would have
dire consequences; a contented
Egyptian military is essential for
political stability. Some sort of
Egyptian military parity with
Israel is an unwritten understan-
ding between Washington and
Cairo, and Egyptian military
support of U.S. Persian Gulf in-
terests is clearly assumed by
both parties.
But rearranging loan payment
will not necessarily reverse
Egypt's declining fortunes. There
is little hope for meaningful im-
provement of conditions until the
Mubarak regime develops a
coherent, and much more
aggressive, long-term economic
plan. Since the death of Anwar
Sadat, the country has been
adrift economically, and there
are few indications that the
situation is about to change.
4
AP Photo
Four years after the Camp David agreement, the Middle East again finds intself in turmoil. And despite its
relatively uninvolved status, Egypt has had more than its share of problems.
Perhaps even more ominous
are the political signs. After
Sadat's assassination, President
Mubarak was given the benefit of
the doubt, by left-and right-wing
forces alike, as nearly everyone
waited to see how he would han-
.dle the country's myriad
problems. With no progress on
the economic front, political
dissastisfaction has begun to
spread. Instead of responding to
these challenges, Mubarak
reportedly has withdrawn into a
political cocoon, surrounded by a
small clique of advisers who
gradually are isolating him from
the disaffection increasingly
evident throughout Egypt.
A situation reminiscent of the
last days of Sadat now is on the
horizon. Faced with serious op-
position, and apparently un-
willing to allow its open ex-
pression, the Mubarak gover-
nment has turned to the security
police for political control.
FOR SEVERAL months, the.
press has been muzzled and other
political organizations have been
intimidated, leading much of the
opposition to go underground.
There, thanks to the rising in-
fluence of Muslim religious fun-
damentalists, it plots and plans
against the government.
The one area in which Mubarak
might have paved new ground
quickly and distracted Egyptians
from these internal concerns is
foreign policy. But Cairo remains
saddled with the embarrassing
embrace of ari Israel that - with
its colonization of the West Bank
- flagrantly violates the Camp
David Accords.
IN THE process Sadat's "grand
initiative" for peace, which
should have been a political plus,
has become a political liability,
with more and more Egyptians
questioning their government's
silence regarding Israel's
behavior.
During his Washington visit,
Mubarak tried to confront the
West Bank issue. But as one
Egyptian official said, "You just
don't know who to lalk to in
Washington. No one in the
Reagan administration seems to
have a clear idea of what the
United States wants. When you
talked to (former National
Security Adviser) William Clark,
you got a smile. William Casey,
the CIA director, merely nods.
And Secretary of State Shultz is
something of an enigma."
Caught in this web of U.S. in-
decision, and in the economic
trauma that besets it at home,
the Mubarak regime is floun-
dering. Yet it might survive sim-
ply because the opposition, too,,
has offered no solutions to the
Egyptian dilemma.
Magnelia wrote this article
for the Pacific News Service.
Minority post is first step
THECREATION of a new minority
administrator is a first step to
solving the many problems minority's,
and especially blacks face at the
University. But it is only one step, and
will be inconsequential if many others-
d4 not follow.
Black enrollment has been in a;
nosedive since 1976 when it nearly hit8
percent. Last year, only 5.2 percent of
students were black.
Administrators have admitted for a
long time that the Unviersity is having
serious trouble enrolling and keeping
black students. But the creation of this
new administration is the first in-
dication in several years that the Un-
iversity is serious about solving the
problem.
With tough economic times upon the
state and the University, creating
another administrator or ad-
ministrative layer is always
troublesome. The ' benefits must be
weighed carefully against the costs on
units who will lose funds. And make no
mistake about it, this new salary will
be paid by someone who could use the
money. Everybody can use the money
these days - students, professors, and
nearly every school and college.
But the potential benefits of this
position, are worth the sacrifice. The
decline in black and other minority
enrollments must stop soon, or the
University's student diversity will
completely evaporate. And this new
administrative post is a good start.
The position provides a cen-
tralization of services and programs
which minorities have pushed for a
long time. Yet giving the ad-
ministrator responsibilities beyond
minorities, there will be less chance
that he or she will become isolated
from the rest of University functions.
This is perhaps the most important
aspect of the new position. It aims to
place solutions to minority problems
within the mainstream of University
activity. The goal is to involve
everyone, rather than place the bur-
den of change on minorities. This is the
only way those problems will ever be
solved on this campus.
It is too early to tell if this new
position will work. In fact there is
probably more cause for pessimism
than optimism. Minority problems
have proved very resistant to past at-
tempts to solve them. This new
position, however, seems to have the
right formula. If this administator's
programs receive the money they
need, and if the University becomes
aware of minority problems in its
every day operations, this new post
should work.
LETTERS TO THE DAILY:
Native speaker
TotheDaily: greatest difficulty
Regarding the Oct. 19 article on mastering a new phon
Asian language majors ("Dept. which differs significa
dissuades native speakers"), I the English phonic sys
am gratified that at least one American who studies
foreign language department at language, no matter
the University discourages sistent or gifted, will c
native speakers of a given struggle to masters
language from majoring in that ferences in shades of
language. I feel that all foreign problems with pronunc
language departments should intonation, phrasing
adopt such a policy. The article choice. An individual
in question did not give sufficient raised in a country whe
attention to cultural differences language is spoken will
between American and European have overcome these c
students. Such differences do during childhood, wI
exist and are significantenough American student at t
to give European students who sity level must still co.
major in their native languages a them.
very noticeable advantage over Third, it has been sa
American students majoring in structors set higher sta
the same language. foreign students who
First, public school instruction their native languages
in Europe has been cited as more counteracting the ap
thorough than public school in vantages of the foreign-
struction in the United States. the Americans. While
The relatively poor standing of structors may indeed
Americans in an experimental a policy, other instructs
standardized test recently given Therefore, it is possi
to students from various coun- foreign student taking
tries, plus my own encounters his or her own language
with Europeanstudents, lead me time and effort into
to assume that the above ment than an America
statement is factual. A student and obtain better
graduating from a German Gym- Moreover, one could ac
nasium or a French lycee in all instructors who set
likelihood has a more extensive standards for Amer
knowledge of world civilization foreign students
and literature than does his or Therefore, I see noi
her American counterpart. Since solution to the probl
foreign language studies so than discouraging
heavily emphasize civilization nationals from majori
and literature, a European native languages. Whi
student majoring in their native the courage and in
language at an American univer- foreign students who
sity has a clear advantage over subjects for which En
the American students. vehicle of communica
Second, the relative geographic not help but question t
isolation of most English- of those who major in t
speaking Americans from languages. I do not k
societies in which other American students
languages are spoken makes the majored in English a
technical aspect of foreign
language acquisition all the more
difficult. Most of us live more BLOOM CO
s shunned: Fairplay
. . .
--i
of all is
nic system
antly from
stem. Any
a foreign
how per-
continually
slight dif-
meaning,
ciation and
and word
1born and
ere a given
1 naturally
difficulties
hereas an
he univer-
intend with
id that in-
ndards for
major in
s, thereby
parent ad-
-born over
e some in-
have such
ors do not.
ible for a
courses in
to put less
an assign-
an student
results.
cuse those
different
icans and
of bias..
immediate
lem, other
foreign
ng in their
leIadmire
ndustry of
major in
glish is the
tion, I can-
he motives
their native
now of any
who have
t a foreign
UNTY
university. I can only believe
that some individuals attend
American universities and major
in their native languages because
they expect to face easy com-
. .. or closed mindedness?
To the Daily:
It appears as though the
University's "open mindedness"
must once again be questioned.
In formalizing its policy of
discouraging Asian-Americans
from majoring in their native
language, the Department of Far
Eastern Languages and
Literature has done well to em-
barrass itself.
Perhaps, for the sake of con-
sistency, the English department
should follow up this policy by
limiting its major to the Univer-
sity's foreign students. Offering
courses such as "James Joyce
for Japanese" or "Fitzgerald for
Philippinos" would really
upgrade the quality of higher
learning.
The department chairman,
Luis Gomez's claim that in far
eastern studies "the language
requirement is much greater and
the cultural gap is much larger,"
is not only a weak argument in
justifying this discriminatory
policy, but a direct insult to Asian
Americans. Who should know
more about these cultural dif-
ferences than a member of that
culture?
Just last week, the Daily
featured a front page article
("Japanese classes bigger,"
Daily Oct. 11) dealing with the in-
creased popularity of studying
Japanese for the sake of
promoting cultural and business
relations. Now the same depar-
tment is denying Japanese-
Americans a chance to pursue
their own ethnic culture. Is this
department making value
judgements as to who it should
teach?
It is both irresponsible and
dangerous to scream "racism'
when unjustified, but if faculty
members become insensitive to
their students' needs and claim
charges of discrimination are
"gross distortions," it then
becomes necessary to point out
the real distortions. Than
.situation is hardly a distorted
one, but a very blatant example
of the difficulty ethnic Americans
face in their conflict between
assimilation and search for iden-
tity.
Would it not be a better idea to
formalize a policy to expand the
program to accomodate these
students rather than exclude
them? Or is the idea of coming
here for an education just
another "gross distortion."
-,Kevin Kwok
October 20
We encourage our readers
to use this space to discuss and
respond to issues of their con-
cern. Whether those topics
cover University, Ann Arbor
community, state, national, or,
international issues in a
straightforward or unconven-
tional manner, we feel such a'
dialogue is a crucial function
of the Daily. Letters and guest
columns should be typed,
triple-spaced, and signed.
petition and earn top grades with
minimal effort.
--Karin Lindgreen
October 19
by Berke Breathed
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