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April 10, 1985 - Image 4

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The Michigan Daily, 1985-04-10

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0

OPINION

Page 4
~Ije Bltditgan iwa tI
Edited and managed by students at The University of Michigan

Wednesday, April 10, 1985

The Michigan Daily

0

Talking about-

nuclear war

Vol. XCV,

No. 151

420 Maynard St.
Ann Arbor, MI 48109

Editorials represent a majority opinion of the Daily's Editorial Board

T Wo faces of racism

ACISM at the University wears
two faces.
There is the unfeeling disregard
demonstrated by the University ad-
ministration for much of the last
decade in which the concerns of
minority students, particularly blacks,
are unaddressed.
Worse, there is the overt scorn that
certain students feel for others on the
basis of their skin color.
For much of the school year, the first
form of racism has received the lion's
share of attention. In response, the
administration has commendably
begun a stepped-up minority recruit-
ment campaign and has commissioned
associate vice president Niara
Sudarkasa to compile a report on
minority retention.
In the last few weeks, however, the
second form has been publicized. On
March 31, the Detroit Free Press ran
an article entitled "Being Black at
UM, "which depicted the University as
an environment filled with "racist
taunts, stereotyped attitudes toward
black culture...and library and
bathroom scrawls with racist
phrases."
On April 6, Daily photographer Carol
Francavilla conducted an informal,
unscientific poll of ,mblack students on
campus for the Inquiring
Photographer column that indicates
many black students feel racism is a
problem on campus.

Racism is a subjective label, and
therefore there can be no statistics kept
on it. Individuals are hurt by others
who may or may not have intended in-
sult. The result is an atmosphere of in-
tolerance; an atmosphere that is as
difficult to resolve as it is to label.
Racism can begin without malice.
Friends may refer to blacks or other
minorities with derisive slang in jest.
But even intra-clique racial slurs
engender feelings of hostility by
postulating a distinct group of
"others."
Unlike the first sort of racism, the
administration cannot simply cure the
problem of overt intolerance. Better
representation of the qualified pool of
black students will help matters some,
but the only real solution begins with
every member of the University com-
munity.
Only when every student, staff
member, faculty person, and ad-
ministrator has thoroughly analyzed
himself for subtle racial prejudices
and worked to rid himself of them will
the problem truly be solved.
With the administration appearing
at last to be committed to increased
minority recruitment and improved
minority retention, the latent racism
that has recently become evident is all
the more appalling. Until individuals
begin working to improve their own at-
titudes the problem will continue' and
the University community will suffer
for it.

Dr. Helen Caldicott was born in
Australia and came to America in the
early 1970s to conduct medical research at
Harvard University. She has since aban-
doned her medical pursuits to work full
time as a spokeswoman for the anti-
nuclear movement. Caldicott revitalized
Physicians for Social Responsibility, now
supported by over 30,000 medical
professions concerned with the threat of
nuclear war. More recently, she founded
Women's Action for Nuclear Disar-
mament (WAND), a national coalition
working at the grassroots level to protest-
nuclear proliferation. During a visit to
Ann Arbor last month to deliver a speech
marking the close of the University's In-
ternational Women's Decade, she spoke
with Daily staff reporter Jody Becker.
Dialogue
Daily: Your visit to Ann Arbor coincides
with the U.S.-Soviet arms negotiations in
Geneva. What do you think can be
realistically expected from this new round of

talks? Do you think the "Star Wars" initiative
is going to thwart the efforts at Geneva?
Caldicott: I think that star wars is going to
make arms control impossible, and that
Reagan has staffed the arms control talks
with hawks. And I think Reagan's decision not
to go to Chernenko's funeral is a mistake. It
doesn't really look like the United States is
trying to reach out, even make a gesture. No,
I don't think they'll accomplish much.
D: Prior to the re-election of President
Reagan, you made statements that warned of
the danger of a second term in regards to the
escalation of the arms race. Now that Regan
is in the White House again, what do you see
as the future of the MX and the new Strategic
Defense Initiative?
C: Well, he calls the MX the
"peacemaker", which is "1984" talk, he says
we have to have the MX because we want ar-
ms control. That's newspeak. I never heard of
such insanity, and unfortunately the people in
the Congress will roll over and do it. I don't
understand where they are, I suspect they
aren't getting enough pressure from their
constituents. Your (Rep.) Pursellsonly got 20
letters related to the MX. 20 letters! He
should be deluged with telegrams and
telephone calls and letters. What are the
people doing? Putting their heads in the sand
like the people in Germany did? Umm, "Star
Wars". What is the future for "star wars"?
Well, they're going ahead with R and D,
,(research and development) for it and we'll
see, and the universities will get into it and
the labs will get into it and the corporations will
get into it. And it's great, you see. We were
really winning in 1982, and I think the people
in the government were getting very worried

that these feelings were sweeping the coun-
try. There was a huge march in New York,
the labs like Lawrence Livermore and Los
Alamos and all the rest and all the cor-
porations were seeing that they weren't going
to build any more nuclear weapons. They
were really finished. So there was a call put
gout for making this new engineering initiative
in space, which is endless, because it's in-
soluable, and it just goes on forever. And so he
bought it. I don't understand.
D: What do you think Americans can do at
the grass roots level to protest the passage of
the MX or funding of further research and
development of the "Star Wars" scheme?
C: They should be deluging their
congressmen and senators with phone calls
and letters and telling them, "If you vote for
the MX, I personally will make sure you're
not re-elected in three years time." Don't
forget the power of this democracy lies at the
ballot box.
D: But what about the fact that only 52.9
percent of those eligible voted in the last
national election?
C: You'd be surprised. If a congressman
gets a hundred calls a day, they get really
jumpy. How do you think the corporations get
through with their demands? They deluge
them with telegrams and the congressmen
know that's orchestrated. But if the people,
their actual constituents start to call in, it
really freaks them out. I don't understand
why Americans don't understand democracy.
I don't know what you're being taught in
school.

Becker's conversation with Caldicott
will continue tomorrow.

6

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A slow solution

Letters
VOICE gathers necessary experience

T HE LEGISLATION recently ap-
proved in the House and Senate
demanding that the Japanese reduce
their trade barriers is reasonable.
Last year of the greater than $100
billion trade deficit the United States
amassed, over $34 billion was due to
Japan. Since World War II, the
Japanese market has been, almost en-
tirely'closed to foreign goods.
A close examination of this situation
reveals that the situation is not as one-
sided as it would appear to be.
Many U.S. officials agree that for-
mal barriers tb the Japanese market
are not that severe. One U.S., official
stated that the trade deficit with Japan
would probably be reduced only by a
third if all tariff barriers under con-
sideration are dropped. Researchers
have discovered that the Japanese are
not the protectionists that many in the
West envision them to be.
One study revealed that Japan's
average tariff on industrial imports is
2.8 percent, while the tariff rates on
such goods in the United States and
among the European Economic Com-
munity are 4.4 and 4.7 percent respec-
tively.
Non-tariff barriers are also con-.
siderably less in Japan. One study
found that 22.1 percent of Japan's
manufactured imports are subject to
non-tariff barriers, while in the United
States 45.1 percent of all such goods
are. Two other studies revealed
similar statistics..
Why then, is the U.S. trade deficit
with Japan so large? Business leaders,
especially in the telecommunication
field, complain vehemently about the
severe, complicated Japanese laws
governing telecommunication equip-
ment imports. A common complaint is
that laws are not specific enough, and
often, as a result, those who wish to en-
ter the Japanese telecommunication
market must perform an excessive
amount of paperwork.
The U. S husinessmen noint to the

United States' laws are too lenient. Ac-
cordingly, the Japanese have good
reason to be fearful of mass infiltration
of their telecommunications market by
United States' industries that have not
been forced to produce quality items.
Others propose that the chief factor
contributing to the trade imbalance is
culturally based. People from the
generation that experienced World
War II are now Japan's leaders. This
generation also possesses the majority
of Japanese wealth, and oversees
education and commerce. Thus
children have been indoctrinated with
a distrustful attitude towards the
United States.
Of course, the few young people who
would like to break tradition and buy
foreign goods have had difficulty doing
so. Firstly, they have little money and
find Japanese goods to be more affor-
dable than imports. Secondly, the strong
U.S. dollar has drastically decreased
these people's buying power, just as it
has elsewhere. Therefore, the young who
would like to buy American goods are
unable to do so.
When all of these factors are con-
sidered, it becomes obvious that the
U.S.-Japanese trade deficit dilemma is
not easily solvable. The current
"spenders" in Japan, mistrust not only
the quality and serviceability of U.S.
products, but also the United States it-
self.
By forcing the Japanese to import a
considerably larger amount 'of U.S.
products now, the United States'
government will only cause 'the
Japanese people to feel further resen-
tment. If the United States wishes to
remain closely allied with Japan, it
should proceed cautiously.
For now, Congress should accept the
Japanese concessions concerning
telecommunications. Then, later this
year at the economic summit in Bonn,
the U.S. government should present, in
writing, a plan which calls for a
gradual increase in U.S. exports to
Japan.

To the Daily:
I amtwriting to recommend that
you vote for Paul Josephson for
president and the VOICE can-
didate from your school for
representative in the MSA elec-
tion today.
There is a difference between
VOICE and the other paries.
Other parties tell you they are
supportive of "minority concer-
ns." VOICE has blacks, hispanics
and whites who are currently ac-
tive in working for all disadvan-
taged groups on campus. The
other parties may tell you that, if
elected, they will begin work on
an escort system. Voice can-
didates have been among the
Women's Issues committee who
have already completed the
design of an escort program, as
part of a comprehensive
program to insure women's
safety on campus. VOICE can-
didates are among those curren-
tly working with the ad-
ministration in order to im-
plement this comprehensive
program. All the candidates will
(or should) tell you to vote "yes
on C," the ballot proposal that
would deny legitimacy to any
code of conduct passed without
the approval of the student body.
Paul Josephson, Brian Haus from
the Engineering School, and[
other VOICE candidates wrote
proposal C. They have been ac-
tive on the students rights com-
mittee in stopping the code. They
want to continue to VOICE
student concerns effectively to
the administration.
Paul Josephsonand the VOICE
slate will be better able to ad-
vocate student concerns because
their party is a better cross-
section of the student body. Other
parties claim to be for a "more
representative MSA." The
question is: representative of
what? VOICE has candidates
from the Greek system, from the
dorms, from coops, and from off
campus housing. VOICE has
RA's, current MSA represen-

tise than the other parties com-
bined.
I have worked with Paul
Josephson and many of the can-
didates on the VOICE slate
during my time as MSA code
researcher and chair of the
University Council. I have had
the chance to get to know them
and see them in action at
meetings of the Student Rights
Committee, the Women's Issues
committee, and the Assembly.

Paul Josephson is dedicated,
hard working, and effective. As a
co-editor of the MSA news, he has
had the chance to become well in-
formed on all the issues of the
past year. He learns quickly
because he is open to the input of
others. Paul acts ably and
meaningfully on what he has
learned. Paul Josephson and the
rest of the VOICE party know
how to act effectively to insure
that student concerns are not

ignored by the administration.
Other parties tell you to trust
the administration, that students
should just keep quiet. "Mum's
the word," they, say. Paul
Josephson and the candidates
running with him say, "students
need a VOICE." Paul Josephson
and his party are that VOICE.
- Lee Winkleman
April 3
Winkleman is chair of the
University Council.

Proposal C is democratic safeguard

To the Daily:.
In this year's MSA election,
there is a chance for students to
reaffirm their fight for
democracy at the University and
their fight against a code. Ballot
Question C is a call for direct
student democracy. Question C
asks: Should any code of non-
academic conduct be approved
by a vote of the student body
prior to ratification by MSA? If
passed, Question C would give the
students veto power over a code
submitted for approval.
The debate over the code has
been at times a sad reminder that
the University is not a
democracy. Regent Roach
declared that students "have got
to remember that this is not a
democracy. We don't make
decisions based on what students
think." The Administration's
willingness to repeal Bylaw 7.02,
taking away student approval
power over a code, has shown
just how much it respects student
opinion.
In this polluted air of
bureacratic visions on how to run
students' lives, Ballot Question C
is a fresh call for democracy.
Because the Administration will
not guarantee that students will
be "allowed" to approve the code,
BLOOM COUNTY

Ballot Question C cannot guaran-
tee that students will be able to
vote on a-code. It will, however,
be an important part of the at-
tempt to keep the students' right
to approve or reject a code.
Specifically,. Ballot Question C
would transfer the right of ap-
proval given to MSA in the
Bylaws of the University to the
entire student body. A vote by all
of the students would determine
how MSA would vote on a Code.
The many problems associated
with a code have caused students
to be concerned and to fight for
their rights. In last year's MSA
election, 92 percent of the studen-
ts voted for a similar proposal.

This year, 100 percent of the
students should vote to secure
their right to vote on a code. It i
in the interests of all studen
that no code be approved without
their consent. If approved, Ballot
Question C will be an important
check against a code. Voting yes
on C will be an important
declaration that students'
opinions mean something!
-Dave Buchen
April 1
Buchen isa staff person 4
MSA 's students' rights com-
mittee.

Letters to the Daily should be typed, triple-
spaced, and signed by the individual authors.
Names will be withheld only in unusual circum-
stances. Letters may be edited for clarity, gram-
mar, and spelling.

60

by Berke Breathed

YOVR& 4XIM171V67

II

ONE POC5NT 9/5scU5

176 6&2y,'WHj

11

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