OPINION.
Page 4 Tuesday, April 23, 1985 The Michigan Daily
te d mabtna ni i
Edited ond manoged by students at The University of Michigan
All the news that'sfit toprint*
Vol. XCV, No.162
420 Maynard St.
Ann Arbor, MI 48109
By Brian Leiter
As a service to the busy but conscientious
Michigan student who may not have time to
peruse the paper each day, here is a short
rouno-up.o..cent..-4-newswor.,,..tny events:
Editorials represent a majority opinion of the Daily's Editorial Board
I M
Stalled re
THE NUMBERS speak for them-
selves.
In spite of the University's $300,000
recruiting campaign, the number of
women and black employees did not
increase significantly in the last year.
Although the University's current
campaign to increase the recruitment
of minority students has received most
of the attention the past several mon-
ths, under representation among staff
is also a major stumbling block in the
way of a more integrated and diverse
community.
One of the most commonly cited
reasons for the low number of minority
students on campus is that there are
not enough minority faculty and staff.
When students cannot identify with
their instructors, they are less likely to
feel welcome in the University en-
vironment.
A diverse faculty and staff adds to
the number of perspectives that are
available to the University community
and enhances the overall learning en-
vironment.
Several University regents ex-
pressed disappointment over the
recently released statistics which in-
dicate that the proportion of women
and blacks hired in the last year was
little better than last year. Those
statistics indicate that the number of
black assistant professors is down to 19
from 25 last year, and that the number
D.C.
STONEY BURKE didn't show up, an
there weren't too many green
bikes lying around, but Washington
D.C.'s Ellipse certainly seemed a lot
like Ann Arbor's diag last Saturday.
Over 200 University students
travelled in buses, vans, and cars to
take part in a march on Capital Hill
that called for "jobs, peace; and
justice."
The march itself ran for almost two
miles along Pennsylvania Ave., and
ended on the front lawn of the Capitol.
A series of speakers, highlighted by the
Rev. Jesse Jackson, addressed
problems facing minorities, homosex-
uals, and farmers as well as gover-
nmental policy in Central America, the
arms race, and the apartheid gover-
nment of South Africa.
Although there were no official
statistics, the Ann Arbor contingent
seems to have been one of the largest
ones there. In the weeks leading up to
the march, the Latin American
Solidarity Committee advertised a bus
trip to Washington. The response to
their ad was so overwhelming that
a (
f
1
c
a
d
1
t_
l
i.
i
i
t
round-up of recent newsworthy events :
" " Colorado Senator and presidential hopeful
Gary Hart, suspecting that someone might
m actually ask during the 1988 campaign what
his "new ideas" are, has formed a think-tank
to produce new ideas. Says a Hart aide: "New
of women assistant professors dropped ideas are what America wants and new ideas
from 166 to 161. At the same time the are what Hart is all about. Of course, Hart
number of white male assistant appreciates that new ideas must include
professors climbed from 344 to 360. things like details, substantive proposals, and
actual insights into the reality of the economy
The statistics on assistant professors and society. Now that Gary Hart has presen-
are particularly important because the ted America with 'new ideas,' our think-tank
next generation of senior professors will undertake this secondary task of
will be promoted out of their ranks. elaborating on these matters." One uniden-
With the statistics in general leveling tified source close to Hart reports, however,
off and in some cases worsening, the that the real reason for creating the think-
o, s tank was Hart's discovery that one of his
administration is uncertain what steps much-touted new ideas - to move away from
it should take. New Deal politics and place greater reliance
on the private sector - was actually the old
Recruiting efforts are hurt by the idea of the Republican party. Said the source,
fact that the total number of faculty "Old ideas are not new ideas - it's too bad,
and staff is declining. With fewer but there's just no way around that."
senior faculty positions to fill, the Secretary of Education William Bennett
has launched a new series of attacks on the
University cannot recruit as many quality of college education. Said Bennett:
assistant professors as it traditionally "Colleges are not performing their task:
has. students read and write, sure, but they don't
Although unsuccessful last year, the learn to think critically. Repetition of
and women faculty and staff banalities and cliches, reliance on simplistic
minorityen generalizations and distortions - such skills
recruitment program seems an ap- will carry almost all students through college
propriate response to the problem. The these days. Our colleges are producing em-
University should continue the pty-headed drones." As support for his
program, but should investigate charges, Bennett cited the Reagan ad-
specific failures to make it more effec- ministration which, he noted, "consists
tive. mainly of college graduates."
The road to establishing an in- " A new report, known informally as "The
tegrate dtivest bitgyanis a White Paper II", charges that the
tegrated University community s Nicaraguans are building an air field from
long one, but it is well worth the effort. which the Russians will be able to conduct spy
Continued programs to recruit
minority and women faculty combined Leiter is a graduate student in law and
with stepped up recruiting of minority philosophy.
students are a start and must be built
upon. Letters
Diag Daily show
they were forced to rent two additional Your
vans. In all, the group brought 111 To the Daily: art
vans.T In Daly:and th
people. Unive
LASC was not alone, however. It's good to see that you are prohibit
Groups of marchers came from the remaining consistent in your "destr(
P Student Network, the editorial policy. "Star Wars" capacit
Progressive ,(Daily, April 20) is just another another
Michigan Alliance for Disarmament, example of the continuing misuse overp
the Interfaith Council for Peace, Take of information to present the Weapo
Back the Night, the Puerto Rican viewpoints of an obviously liberal propose
Solidarity Committee, and the Ann Ar- editorial staff. As has often been other
bor Peace Community. noted, there are two sides to the beings.
Because it didn't focus on a specific coin and you rarely examine both protect
issue, the march was more a show of before taking a stand. later th
Your foot-in-mouth style of Final]
solidarity on the part of anti-Reagan journalism was most evident in Univers
administration activists than a specific your editorial of the 20th. "Any will be
political demonstration. effort at the University to design agreem
If the number of marchers is any and deploy Reagan's imagined researc
sign of the country's feelings toward missle shield..." Deploy? I think specific
Reagan, then the President may not be you are giving too much credit to of the
the Space Program here. Is the
as popular as his polls indicate. University Space Shuttle
Although only 35,000 marchers were operational already? My, how
expected, police estimates ranged as As for your presentation again-
high as 100,000 participants. st SDI, the Union of Concerned
It is impressive to see that so many Scientists argument you To the U
University students are committed reiterated is just another exam-
adcnendeog totk tie ple of the highly pessimistic at- What
and concerned enough to take time titude of the scientific community asked t
from studying for finals and travel 10 toward their own field. The fin- ded for
hours for a political cause. dings that the Strategic Defense awaren
Initiative is unfeasible should be Without
a ' ,u 4'comared to ast findings by They K
scientists that the world is flat, U.S.A.
:hi1that bees cannot fly, and that World.
f *i;, human stomachs cannot be record
operated on because the exposure opening
7N 1 ,, ~ of the abdomen to air would proble
cause instant death. Africa?
SDI is a research proposal. It and S
will be audited regularly to allow Nelson
for budgetary shifts away from severa
dead ends. The Initiative can specific
S;then be used by futurePresiden- Thes
ts to determine the feasibility of a Africa':
ballistic missile defense. If been so
defensive technologies research
is considered an escalation of the 8L
arms race (as you assert) then
the Soviets should be condemned
for their active escalation in the
last 20 years.
The Soviets maintain around
f Ir- Moscow the world's only
'A operational ABM system. In the
last five years they have
upgraded and expanded it just
within the boundaries of the 1972
ABM treaty. A rapidly
deployable ABM system has been
developed which could be built in
months instead of years. They
are now deploying one surface-to-
air missile system, the SA-10, and
l
r
missions along the West Coast. In addition,
the report claims that the Nicaraguans are
installing nuclear missiles aimed at major
American cities. The report also asserts that
the Nicaraguans are supplying arms to rebels
in El Salvador, French separatists in
Quebec, blacks in South Africa, and subway
riders in New York City. The report also notes
that under the Sandinistas, Nicaraguans do
not wash as frequently as Americans;
Nicaraguan school children do not say the
Pledge of Allegiance; Nicaraguan baseball
players have lower batting averages than
American players; and Nicaraguans do not
speak English. In closing, the report calls for
"renewed efforts at reform and peace or a
U.S. invasion and general holocaust and
destruction."
* Skeptics and critics of Jesse Jackson's
1984 Rainbow Coalition have been rebuffed.
Scientists at Stanford University report that it
is possible to have a monochromatic rainbow.
* John C. Whitehead, a retired investment
banker with no background in international
affairs, has been appointed Deputy Secretary
of State. A State Department official com-
mented: "Although Mr. Whitehead has no ex-
perience in foreign policy-making, he does
understand intimately the needs of American
capitalism and we feel this background will
more than suffice." Mr. Whitehead will join
former corporate executives George Shultz
and Caspar Weinberger as part of Reagan's
foreign policy team.
" Speaking of the needs of American
capitalism, things took a turn for the worse in
South Africa this past week when South
African army planes dropped firebombs and
napalm on black ghettos throughout the coun-
try in order to quell riots and disturbances.
Police report that six were killed and twenty-
seven injured, though unofficial estimates
from uppity blacks suggest that as many as
30,000 may have been killed or burned alive.
Prime Minister Botha renewed his plea for
"peace and cooperation" and denounced calls
for violence by the outlawed African National
Congress saying, "Such immoral and
destabilizing actions threaten the good order
of our society. As civilized peoples, we cannot
condone violence." In Washington, Secretary
is bias in ill-
of State George Shultz concurred and
repeated his commitment to "quiet
diplomacy" as the only sort acceptable for "a
nation like ours that respects national
sovereignty."
" At a press conference last week, George
Bush proclaimed the failure of diplomatic
solutions to "the Nicaraguan problem" and
called for "a U.S. invasion and general
holocaust and destruction." "Quiet
diplomacy is for women and homosexuals,"
Bush added.
" A recent Gallup poll suggests an uncer-
tain future for American democracy. Among
the total electorate, 36 percent said they did
not know there was a presidential election
last year, 12 percent thought Reagan had
abolished elections, and 8 percent expressed
"concern lest this 'electorate' group take over
our country." Of those voting for Reagan, 12
percent thought the major part of his plat-
form was "white supremacy," 19 percent
thought it was "general kicking ass," and 34
percent thought it was a mixture of
"patriotism, guns, religion, and keeping
wives submissive." Of those voting for Mon-
dale, 31 percent thought he was the incurr -
bent, 17 percent thought "the DemocratsA
were the pro-Democracy party," and 11 per-
cent flipped a coin. Asked who they would
support for president in 1988, the responses
were: Reagan-49 percent; John Kennedy-"
percent; Clint Eastwood-18 percent; Gar.
Hart-2 percent; "anyone in Motley Crue"-4
percent; themselves-8 percent; - Christie
Brinkley-7 percent; smurfs-3 percent. Asked
to comment on the poll, President Reagan
said he too would support smurfs in'88.
" Jeanne Kirkpatrick has officially
registered as a member of the Republican
party. Her switch has lead to calls for The
New Republic to follow suit.
e The group Americans for Honesty and
Character in Public Officials has disbanded
reporting declining membership, lack of fun-
ds, and failure to have "any impact in even
the slightest degree during its 20 year history.
An FBI spokesman said that since the group
had disbanded, it would be removed from the
Subversive Organizations file.
America: you gotta love it!
arguement thatsthis
!h will be non-classified
erefore not "subject to
rsity guidelines''
ing research which might
oy human life or in-
ate human beings" is
example of emotions
owering judgement.
ns such as the ones
d are designed to destroy
weapons not human
They are designedato
missiles initially and
e population.
ly, you assert that the
sity and the U.S. military
threatening international
nents if "Star Wars"
h is continued. You
ally mention a passage
ABM treaty prohibiting
space-based AB1
compare Presi+
proposal with t
you will see that
is incorrect. Ai
Treaty defines
as one which "co
* ABM interc
which are incept
structed and d
ABM role, or of
an ABM mode;
" ABM launch
launchersacor
deployed for lau
terceptor missile
" ABM radar
radars construct
for an ABM ro
tested in an ABM
Nowhere in the
ticle beam, la
thought edit
K systems. If you energy weapons mentioned.
ident Reagan's These are the areas of the SDI
he ABM treaty research and they do not con-
your argument flict with the '72 Treaty. If you
rticle II of the are truly concerned with the
an ABM system "destabilizing", effects of# SDI
insists of : then perhaps you should voice
eptor missiles your conern in an attempt to haveW
or missilescon: the Treaty renegotiated. In any
eployed for an case, do some research before
a type tested in you take a stand. As I've said
before, uninformed rhetoric is
hers, which are great for getting the blood
structed and flowing,-but it won't substitute for
hin ABM i substance.
.nng n-
s; and
rs, which are
ted and deployed
le, or of a type
Imode."
treaty are par-
ser, or kinetic
-Jeffrey Evans;
April 21
Evans is vice-chairman of
the University's College
Republicans.
South Africa has its songs as well
1 _ . ... . .. . . . . ...... ... .. . . .. .. ..
I-
{{11 * ,
r i'
Daily :
would come to mind if
o name two songs recor-
the purpose of raising
ess to African problems?
t a doubt, Band-Aid's "Do
now It's Christmas" and
for Africa's "We Are The
'But what about the songs
ed for the purpose of
our eyes to the racial
ms that plague South
Peter Gabriel's "Biko"
pecial A.K.A.'s "Free
Mandela" are only two of
1 songs recorded
sally for that reason.
e songs of black South
s fight for freedom have
rely overlooked. Why does
LOOM COUNTY
it take a glitzy "People" cover
story of pretty boys and
glamorous women to make us
think? Are our values now
restricted to the dictates of this
sort of literary crap? Why are we
deaf to songs pleading a cause
like apartheid in South Africa?
Perhaps the answer is that we
have become a nation of cowards.
We close our eyes and ears to
problems like this. We are too
damn afraid to pay attention to
an outcry of political injustice.
Ethiopia was a cut and dry case
- give them money, buy them
food, let them live. But what
about the people dying in South
Africa in their fight for freedom?
Is one death so different than
another that it deserves our full
attention? Maybe it's that the
case of South Africa would stir up
too many questions, too much@
disgust.
Don't get me wrong - I think
the work by Band-Aid and U.S.A.
for Africa was a tremendous and
successful effort, and I supportm
their cause. yet I can't help but be
disgusted in thinking that we are
a nation of wallets, with hardly a'
backbone in sight.
We are big-hearted people in
America (at least, those of us
outside of the White House).
We've helped one African
tragedy; now it's time to open our
eyes to another.
- Heidi Freedman
April 3
by Berke Breathed
.I HAVE
WM4T WAS 71HE
MV MANWFIf7ItRA AVE
I,5 BU Yoc/g
BANANA INC..."
BACE Ytx/RS....
YES WWRKII*,OKAY
IM~4 AFRAIP
7hfYW 60ONE
HIGH -TC H YO!/CA'T
/Wt~d5rKYA6 WRK M~ftN..
IN IW1650Y.
lye,~ MM ll . r
16A 1ramTY WHfAT P/I)
oI
I
a
0
bk