OPINION Page 4 Friday, March 8, 1985 The Michigan Daily Edited and managed by students at The University of Michigan Punch and Judy in school Vol. XCV, No. 123 420 Maynard St. Ann ,Arbor, M! 48109 Editorials represent a majority opinion of the Daily's Editorial Board Watching the administration A NNE RYAN, chairman of MSA's women issues committee, ad- dressed the University Council yester- day. Her comments to the council on campus rape and the proposed "Rules of the University Community" could not have been more timely or more correct: Ryan recommended the University Council, a committee set up to review University policy, take steps to insure women's safety on campus-steps not addressed in the University's proposed code of conduct for students. Although she directed her comments specifically at the problem of women's safety, Ryan's criticisms of . the University's approach to this problem bring to light the uselessness and inef- fectiveness of a new set of student rules. Not only does this approach put the unnecessary burden of a code of "unacceptable conduct" on students, but it fails to solve the problems it ad- dresses. "The Code does not provide lights. It does not provide educational workshops or the preventive help we so desperately need," Ryan said. This is true. The University's approach provides none of the mechanisms necessary to insure a safer campus. In fact, the only thing the proposed plan does provide is a means to expell or otherwise punish students after an of- fense is committed. Deterrence by the threat of stiff punishment is not the an- swer. Not only will it not work, but there are more positive ap- proaches-such as those suggested to the University Council-that will bet- ter address the problems that face the University community. "The University does not demon- strate concern for women's safety by advocating the implementation of the code," Ryan said. "The University, however, would show their concern by activating preventive programs such as improved lighting, nighttime tran- sportation, and counseling services." Acting Chairperson Lee Winkelman also pointed to a frightening ambiguity in the proposed plan. The current draft states that anyone involved in an in- fraction can call for a University in- vestigation and a hearing. "The con- cern was that victims would be forced to testify," he said. The shield laws set up by the state to protect rape victims from incriminating testimony would likely protect them in a University hearing also, but victims of sexual assault should not be put under the fur- ther duress and embarrasment of a separate University hearing. This won't solve the problem either. It is comforting to know that groups like the Women Issues Committee and the University Council are keeping watch over the policies of the Univer- sity administration. But at the same time, it is unfortunate that the ad- ministration did not have the foresight to develop effective solutions to cam- pus problems in the first place, instead of merely developing a policy to fur- ther police students into "accept- table" members of the community. By Robert Honigman Second in a series At the University of Michigan, the daughter of a Detroit industrialist showed up in tears at the campus psychological clinic. "She was under tremendous pressure to be deflowered, and by God she was," reported Professor Joseph Adelson, the clinic's director. - Cam- pus Shock, 1979 * * * * Yesterday I looked at the factors in the university which contribute to physical and social isolation. Yet there may be other in- fluences which contribute to a climate of date rape on a university campus. I am here referring to what may be called the "Punch and Judy effect." Rape is a crime not just of sex, but of sadistic violence. It is in- tended to victimize and humiliate the victim. In a prison environment, for example, weaker inmates are raped because the harsh authoritarian nature of the prison is per- ceived as emasculating by the inmates. They are treated as objects by the institution and feel degraded and humiliated by its policies and procedures. In Punch and Judy shows, a puppet hits Judy with a large paddle and she in turn hits someone else. The audience laughs because this mirrors real life in hierarchical societies and organizations. The superior assaults and degrades his or her subordinate. The subordinate accepts this treatment smilingly and then turns around and humiliates and assaults the person below them. The question is - does a Punch and Judy ef- fect exist in the university? There are many aspects of the student- university relationship which are emasculating. Economically, students are dependent upon the kindness of others - tax- payers and parents - for long years. Although the university is pictured as a half- way place between childhood and adulthood, in many respects students are worse off than children, since the university - insofar as it acts as a parent - is distant and impersonal, a bureaucracy, rather than one's own parents with whom one has some bargaining power. The individual in the univeristy has no power to persuade the institution to recognize Honigman is an attorney in Sterling Heights. or respond to his or her special situation or needs. The student is also worse off than an adult. Not only is the student largely powerless in the university, but the student is expected to work hard day after day for paper grades rather than real income. The university seems to combine the worst aspects of childhood with those of adulthood. There is a long grinding apprenticeship under thedirec- tion of faculty who pay little or no attention to the student, and since the university's academic structure is authoritarian and hierarchical, the student must cooperate fully with those in authority as the price of mem- bership and promotion within the organization. Moreover, the university seems to be run as if it were an academic boot camp - that is, as if some of the isolation and pressures on students are deliberately designed to brutalize and toughen students up or else wash them out. But what motive would the university have for making the average un- dergraduate's life more difficult and harsh? The answer seems to be that the university as an institution has no choice, except to do exactly that. There are two large shifts of funds in higher education - one is the shift of funds out of undergraduate education and into graduate programs, and the other is a shift out of education altogether and into research. Contrary to popular opinion, sponsored research does not return a 'profit' to its host university - mainly because sponsors fail to pay the full cost of overhead or indirect ex- penses. Both graduate education and resear- ch are heavily subsidized because they are high prestige programs which lift a university out of the ordinary. Undergraduate education is used as a resource - it brings in more revenue than it costs - so undergraduate education at major universities is often strip- ped to the bone and financially impoverished. The problem for the institution then becomes - how can you motivate students? How can you persuade young, alive, and active people to chain themselves to boring books and dull undergraduate classes for four years? How do you secure their cooperation in the university enterprise? There are no warm personal contacts with the faculty to stimulate or encourage intellectual develop-. ment. There is no great entertainment value in courses tailored to faculty and departmen- tal interests rather than students'. Some way has to be found to motivate students and to conceal from students and parents alike that undergraduate education is an empty ex- perience. So the university has no choice but to fall back on the carrot and the stick. The carrot is greed, pure and simple. The university glamorizes career success; makes it seem achievable if only students will conform to the university's demands; makes it seem to be the only criteria by which a student should judge himself or herself. "We are the path- way to personal, financial and social success - if only you are willing to pay the price," the university seems to say. The success and glamor of the university reinforce this message. That is the carrot. The stick is the brutality of the university environment, which like a boot camp, breaks down student self-confidence and encourages institutional dependency. "Why not bury yourself in books if you are lonely? Why not surrender to the institution's demands and save your strength when you can't change anything? Let the institution be your mother and father rather than searching for a per- sonal development through human relations with others. It's all in books anyways." In such an environment, the Punch and Judy effect operates on many more levels than merely date-rape. In effect, the univer- sity becomes a prison or a para-military organization. The institution as a whole becomes successful and powerful, and each individual within is asked to sacrifice his or her good to the purposes and goals of the all- wise and all-powerful institution. I am not here suggesting that the people who run the university are in any way brutal or unkind as individuals. What I wish to suggest is that the way we govern our upiver- sities - as authoritarian organizations, where those at the top claim to always know what is best, and where the good of the in- stitution is always placed ahead of the good of the individual - is unhealthy, and that such institutions can only operate in a climate of fear and greed. Until we replace coercion and bribery with informed consent and democratic safeguar- ds, both the physical act of rape and the in- tangible psychic rape of the powerless and the vulnerable will continue. Tomorrow: "Separate realities in college" A Wasserman I fZOLVS- LET ME &SHOW You IHE BUT 1% JUS)T A R~OME OF TomozRoW-- pkAN 8K~ OLS 1N TES R~E IVLOW Two"!.p/pCLr( a .T " FoUN tkAiQw 4 A quiet problem .."-"- . l ,,," I N THE MIDST of President Reagan's budget cuts, the upcoming arms talks with the Soviet Union, and the turmoil in Nicaragua, the famine in Africa is slowly being forgotten. The famine threatens large numbers of people in over a dozen different African countries and over 6 million people in Ethiopia alone. While the famine remained in the news, Ethiopia became the focus of international aid efforts but the famine is a continent- wide problem. Recent reports out of Sudan indicate tha perhaps as many as 5 million people-one third of the population-face starvation. The problem is aggravated by the large numbers of Ethiopian refugees streaming into the country and putting additional demands on the already in- sufficient relief supplies. All around the world, particularly in the U.S., private citizens have respon- ded to the crisis with food and financial assistance. Although well-intentioned, thoseefforts are not always what is truly needed. Relief officials in Ethiopia claim that the government there is not fulfilling. its pledge to grant highest priority in its shipyards to food shipments. Fur- ther, some Ethiopians claim that the government is selectively neglecting certain rebel provinces. In order to make such relief more ef- fective, the U.S. government should pressure the Ethiopians to fulfill their promise to relieve the famine for all its citizens. In addition, citizens donating to the relief cause must educate them- selves to the uses of their charity, because some organizations are more effective than others. Finally, the African government must learn from the disaster. Proper irrigation, development of crops more suitable for the environment, and erosion control might have lessened the effects of the famine had they been implemented following the last great famine in the early 1970s. Governmen- ts and citizens around the world will have to ensure that those steps are taken. Concern and contributions are as important today as they were last year, particularly because the issue is being given less attention. That concern, however,smust be mixed with self- education if it is to be as effective as it must be to halt the starvation facing the millions of Africans. Q \I _ : , a WE RE STILL tROWIW G OUT &oMs DUN ILS OFTHE FIN NNCIN G.. 50 y/ou ) V To use A LITTLE ltMAA&NPAT~oN F V~%& r : t ' J G ", i Q I ,,,, . 'c ".. , _ r a } 0 Letters !4 PIR GIM 's loss not students +K> U ,, ' .. Co~lege Press Servce y /7; or,"' To the Daily : "A Victory for Students." That was the title of the February 19 editorial in the Daily pertaining to the outcome of the PIRGIM funding extension 'request at the February 16 Regents meeting. I still fail to see how the Daily editorial board can write such an editorial and title it thus. A victory for students? As a concerned student and one who signed PIRGIM's petition sup- porting their proposal, I certainly do not feel victorious. And I know I'm not alone. Living in a time where more needs to be done and 1PC ish~isr nnPPcuime a breed of student groups, dedicated to such important causes. I, for -one, will miss having the convenience of sup- porting PIRGIM through the registration process. I will be willing to walk the four flights of stairs to the PIRGIM office to contribute, but how many others who normally contribute through the SVF will? I can't state enough my disap- pointment at the lack of concern BLOOM COUNTY I 11 EY4~e~i6! / I M/ continually shown by University students, including those on the Daily editorial board. I can ac- cept people not having the time or ambition to join the PIRGIM folks in their issue work and I can tolerate those who don't con- tribute when they register, but I victory can neither accept nor tolerate those who interfere with the working, including fundraising, of such . a worthwhile and necessary organization as PIRGIM. -John K. Corser February 19 Unsigned editorials appearing on the left side of this page represent a majority opinion of the Daily's Editorial Board. by Berke Breathed U U I DRUNK ?i ,,.A -) A --l WR~ ME, x w7IN6 V~ YX 5M~F/' 77 GOOK! WALL E M56 N 7M I