OPINION
Page 4 Tuesday, April 22, 1986 The Michigan Daily
4
Edited and managed by students at The University of Michigan
Wasserman
Vol. XCVI, No. 138
420 Maynard St.
Ann Arbor, MI 48109
Unsigned editorials represent a majority of the Daily's Editorial Board
All other cartoons, signed articles, and letters do not necessarily represent the opinion of the Daily.
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HE COLLEGIATE Institute
, for Values and Science is a
giant missed opportunity. The
group was created ten years ago to
bring together members of the
University community for substan-
tive discussion on issues of ethics
and appropriate technology. What
has evolved is an elitist rap
{ session, involving select faculty
members whose activity has little
impact on University policy or the
community at large.
The existence of CIVS would
seem to imply that there are some
values worth articulating and ad-
vancing. But according to Univer-
sity Vice President Billy Frye,
CIVS' founder, there's no way to
distinguish what's right and wrong
in many cases, and therefroe the
University must refrain from
making moral pronouncements.
In the context of scientific
research funding, such a stance
conveniently protects the Univer-
sity's pocket book and unchecked
academic freedom, while denying
the sanctity of human life.
Unfortunately, the Institute has
apparently become another victim
of an intellectual hostage crisis -
tip-toeing around the issue that
scientists must increasingly seek
support from the military-
industrial complex. To antagonize
private business and government
agencies by denouncing or boycot-
ting certain kinds of research could
cost the University millions in
precious research dollars.
So CIVS keeps a very low
profile. The group made no attem-
pt to centralize campus wide
debate on the advent of Strategic
Defense Initiative research on
campus. And as long as the Pen-
tagon remains the fastest growing
source of scientific research fun-
ding, the group isn't likely to be
issuing moral edicts.
The University's status as a
"crucible in which scholars seek
truth and fact to find new
knowledge" as stated in a Sept.
1985 Board of Regents resolution
"encouraging" Star Wars research
does not excuse the institution
from moral obligation. To the con-
trary, such an impressive assem-
bly of great thinkers ought to act as
a beacon of enlightenment, projec-
ting ideals which reflect and rein-
force human genius and potential.
*CIVS should be reminding the
community that with such freedom
comes responsibility.
Certainly, it is less taxing to in-
tellectualize, and consider issues of
value and science in the abstract.
So at CIVS' monthly dinner
meetings nobody wants to discuss
maiming and killing, according to
David Singer, a professor of
political science and member of
the group. It could ruin your ap-
petite. But it could also happen,
and it seems inappropriate for
CIVS to avoid such issues.
Two voices echo across this
campus from Harvard Yard. One
belongs to Harvard University
President Derek Bok, who has
authored a book entitled Beyond
the Ivory Tower: Social Respon-
sibilities of the Modern University.
Bok, like Frye, maintains that the
university isvnot a moral guardian.
The other voice belongs to Dr.
Helen Caldicott, pediatrician and
President of Physicians for Social
Responsibility. Caldicott would
surely diagnose CIVS as suffering
fromwhat she calls a fatal case of
"psychic numbing." It's what
animals do in life threatening
situations, says Caldicott. "They
run away and do something
totally irrelevant."
The time has come to CIVS to
stop running and do something
relevant. After ten- years of
delightful dinners and relaxed
discussions it is time to confront
reality.
Reality is that the University is
increasingly finacnially tied to in-
stitutions that have created the
means to kill every person on this
planet sixteen times. Many mem-
bers of the University community,
including 50 physicists who signed
a petition to boycott Star Wars
research, are concerned about
those realities. And still no Univer-
sity body is examining the im-
plications of those ties or ad-
dressing those concerns.
Last week the University's Of-
fice for Research issued a mandate
calling for 90 million dollars in new
Department of Defense funding on
campus.
The announcement presents
CIVS with another opportunity to
live up to its potential and address
the fundamental issues of values
and science. It is ten years later,
but it's not too late.
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LETTERS:
Old Main perfect for day-care center
To the Daily:
I agree with your article about
using parts of Old Main Hospital
for the elderly, mentally ill and
handicapped that appeared in the
February 20, 1986 issue of the
Daily. Having worked for the
Hospital from 1977-1985, I've seen
how much money has been spent
on remodeling, upgrading,
bringing areas up to code, and it
would truly be a shame for that
money to be literally thrown
away.:
As a part of the working mother
force here at the University, why
not use part of Old Main as a day
care center for the children of the
University's employees, Hospital
and Campus wide. The word
"children" would mean a child as
young as 6 weeks old to as old as
5 or 6 years of age. St. Joseph's
Hospital has a beautiful facility
for their employee's children
providing care starting at 6
weeks of age. U of M Dearborn
has a Child Development Center
(day care) which offers facilities
first to students, then to faculty
and staff, and then to the com-
munity. U of M Dearborn does
not take children until they are 1
year old and able to walk. If
something similar was offered
here, I believe that mothers here
at the University would return to
work earlier from having a child
without using their vacation
time, taking a leave of absence,
or even resorting to leaving the
University.
Children closer to their
mother's/father's work area
would also mean less time lost if
a child got sick or had a doctor's
appointment. University of
Michigan Hospital, St. Joe's and
the McCauley Health Plan is
close at hand. Being a member of
M-Care, a child care facility at
Old Main would not only save me
time and money but also my
department. A good example is
the other day my six-month-old
daughter had to go for her six
month check up. I had to leave
work 11J, hours before her appoin-
tment so I could drive to the
babysitters on the east side of
Ypsilanti, pick her up, and then
return tothe Taubman Center for
her appointment. If there had
been a day care center at Old
Main, I could have left my office
30-45 minutes before her appoin-
tment to ensure proper parking,
retrieve her from the center, and
get to the Taubman Center in
time for her appointment.
I can not stress enough that a
day care center located in Old
Main would not only save me and
other mother's/father's time
away from our jobs, but also
saves on the use of vacation time,
probably would have been gone a
total of 1%i< hours instead of 33
hours. That is certainly a big dif-
ference in time.
I attended one of the open
forums that John Forsyth,
Executive Director of the
Hospital had, and when asked
about the possibility of having a
child care center, he responded
that there was not enough in-
terest in a program like that. I
find that very hard to believe
with today's economy the way it
is, forcing more mothers to con-
tinue working after having not
just their first but their second
and third child.
A day care center could offer a
nursery, program for the four-year-
olds and a kindergarten for the 5
-year olds. This would offer much
sought after experience for
students in education, social
work, etc. Also, what does a
mother do with a child of kin-
dergarten age who would only at-
tend school for ' a day? I face
this problem in the fall with my
oldest child. What do I do then,
leave early for lunch, pick up my
daughter;at school, take her to
the babysitters, and then return
to work? Can all this be accom-
plished in an hour's time frame.
What if the weather is bad? What
do mothers/fathers do who only
have a 1- hour lunch?
A child care center could in-
clude experience, on-hand
training for students and ad-
ditional experience/research fo4
faculty from the School of
Education, Social Work,
Psychiatry, and many more
areas, so the University would
benefit from the experiences
beside making child care more
bearable for the parents and the
departments of the University.
-Mary Donahue Schock
Secretary IV
Plant Operations
March 11
Terrorism deserves strong response
To the Daily:
I am writing in response to the
editorial, "Vengeance and
violence" (Daily, 4/16/86). The
editorial as a whole was
ludicrous. Not because the
author(s) has different views on
U.S. policy than I do, but because
it was unsubstantiated at many
points apd not a real editorial.
The Daily criticizes President
Reagan's use of military action
against Libya. I would pose the
question: What would you like
our government to do in order to
diminish the occurrence of state
sponsored terrorism? If you are
going to write an editorial
criticizing U.S. actions, then you
had better be prepared to offer a
viable suggestion with regard to
the problem at hand. This was not
done in your editorial.
The problem at hand is state
sponsored terrorism. The ad-
ministration says it has directly
linked Libya to pass acts of
terrorism. The CIA confirms this.
If the information is so unfounded
and the CIA so unreliable, why
then is the Daily so quick to
believe the "Truth" from Libyan
news agencies? (Who, I might
add, are controlled by the Libyan
government.) How do we know
that American bombs killed
Khadafy's daughter? Was it
really his daughter? It was in-
dependently confirmed that some
civilian casualties were the result
of Libyan military incompetency.
Firing anti-aircraft guns into the
night could very well achieve
this. It happened in London
during the Battle of Britain in
World War II.
I also want to correct the Daily
on another matter. You stated
that the United States has met
Khadafy on his own terrorist
terms. Wrong. The U.S. carried
out a military action aimed at
military installations. This is not
comparable to a bomb planted on
Khadafy for years. Negotiation-
s go nowhere because of his
radical nature. He is so radical
that the Soviets do no more for
him than supply him militarily;
he has no national allies.
Economic sanctions were attem-
pted but again no support came
from our fair weather NATO
"friends." In fact, the announ-
cement of a military action a
week before was designed to
pressure our allies to participate
in economic sanctions so
strategic action would not be im-
plemented. That is why UN am-
bassador Walters was in Britain
and France before the assault
took place. By doing nothing, we
increase the risk of appeasement.
Appeasement has proven not to
work. World War II is the prime
example of a result of this form of
policy.
I believe that terrorism is a
result of Western vulnerability
and not just frustration on
Libya's part. Of course
escalation is a risk in the short
run but something must be don
so Americans don't have to fear
for their lives every time they get
on an airplane or enter a
discotheque. I further believe
that our credibility is en-
dangered more by not dealing
with the situation. If we are
afraid to deal with terrorism with
a strong hand, then our allies can
only begin to question our ability
and our enemies certainly will.
-Todd Barr
April16
Silence the scream
A lesser evil
HE GREAT newspaper war has
ended. The Joint Operating
Agreement (JOA) between the
Detroit Free Press and Detroit
News will, if approved by the
Justice Department, merge the
business operations of the two
papers while allowing them to
maintain separate editorial
divisions. This is a bitter pill to
swallow for those who work for and
W read both papers; however, the
agreement should be approved
because the alternative is probably
the survival of only one of the two
papers.
The JOA is a result of the
than in comparable markets. This
is a result of the competition bet-
ween the newspapers which forces
them to keep their rates low.
The strongest argument against
the merger is the resulting loss of
jobs. Local 22 of the newspaper
guild is working against the
merger. In a city with Detroit's
high unemployment more layoffs
would be tragic. But the executives
of both newspapers have promised
to keep layoffs to a minimum and
the job losses would certainly be
more severe if one of the
newspapers went under.
Whenever a merger occurs, the
, , in.mr Ifctnmp P a.pn. a
To the Daily:
In an exclamation point-laden
letter to the Daily (4/16/86), a
group calling itself S.C.R.E .A.M.
declared that they're tired of
hearing charges of student
apathy leveled at them, and an-
nounced that they've organized
what is to be "the biggest event to
hit this campus since the '60s," a
mass "SCREAM" on the Diag.
Could it be that the criticism
they refer to has something to do
with the current student body's
lack of critical awareness of
American politics and concern
for social issues? The "ex-
citement" on the Diag in the late
60s and 70s was created by many
political movements and issues:
antiwar, women's, Black, sexual
liberation, environmen-
talist ...
The screams were screams of
The S.C.R.E.A.M. letter en-
courages students to appear and
scream if "you hate nuclear
weapons or becausethat pim pl
on your face has finally disap
peared, whatever!" Nuclear
bombs, acne and whatever have
now been given equal importance
as reasons to come out and
protest. And "hate nuclear
weapons" has become a sufficien-
tly precise term to describe the
way students consider national
and global nuclear weapons
policy. Like, don't you think that
nuclear bombs are just gross
That sentence especially, as weF
as their entire letter, indicates a
disturbing misinterpretation of
the meaning of student activism
and an unawareness of the
changes on campus which have
occurred since the 70s.
After the SCREAM is over,
maybe we can all put on out Way-
farers and Maui shirts, climb into
our Fieros and crash en masse iN