Ninety-seven years of editorial freedom
VOLUME XCVII - NO. 89 ANN ARBOR, MICHIGAN - WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 1987 COPYRIGHT 1987 THE MICHIGAN DAILY
U'
profs call
P1KI
;IM
Soviet reforms
ice-breaking
funding
debated
MSA won't seek
By HAMPTON DELLINGER
Soviet leader Mikhail Gor -
lbachev's recent proposals to inject
Russian politics with a dose of
democracy are genuine and exciting,
according to three University pol -
itical science professors.
The measures, which include
such traditional Western ideas as
multi-candidate elections and secret-
balloting, were presented by
Gorbachev to the Communist
oParty's Central Committee last
week.
According to Prof. Matthew
Evangelista, a Soviet politics ex -
pert, Gorbachev's goal is to rid the
party of corruption and com -
placency, which resulted from
officials never having to answer to
anyone.
"One way to make people more
efficient is to make them
1accountable," Evangelista said.
If approved, the changes would
give Soviet citizens a choice in
local and regional party elections.
But if the party is unhappy with the
elected candidate, he or she can be
removed. In the battle between the
party and democracy, "the party still
rules," Evangelista said.
Gorbachev's political reforms
mirror dramatic initiatives in other
areas of Soviet life that constitute
an effort on his part to bring
"glasnost" (openness) to the
country.
The Soviet leader has opened up
Russia's closed economy to a de -
gree, encouraging farmers to
cultivate private plots and allowing
citizens to produce goods at home
for sale at whatever price the market
will pay.
Prof. Alfred Meyer credits
Gorbachev with "recognizing that
the system is in many ways
economically irrational and deeply
corrupt." Gorbachev's attempt to
reform Soviet society began with
the economy, but did not end there.
"There has been a very massive
breaking of the ice going on in
many fields," according to Meyer.
This has included an easing of press
and television restrictions by the
party (anti-Russian riots in the city
of Alma-Ata were recently shown
on television), and a relaxation of
film censoring and books ("Doctor
Zhivago" will finally be published
this year).
See PROFS, Page 2
Pollack speaks Daily Photo by DANA MENDELSSOHN
State Sen. Lana Pollack spoke last night to members of the Un-
dergraduate Political Science Association at Lorch Hall. Pollack, one of
the two women in the Michigan Senate, spoke about her responsibilities
as a political figure, and addressed issues such as abortion and Univer-
sity funding.
Regets'
By MARTHA SEVETSON
The Michigan Student Assembly
last night voted down a proposal by
President Kurt Muenchow to
promote a March ballot referendum
on the funding of the Public Interest
Research Group in Michigan.
The proposal, one of two
opposing plans for the funding
process, would have let students
decide if MSA should fund PIRGIM
through a "refundable fee system"
using the Student Verification
Form. The proposal would have
endorsed placing responsibility for
funding on the University's Board of
Regents.
At press time, the assembly had
not voted on the second proposal,
drafted by PIRGIM members and
assembly members and LSA juniors
Ed Kraus and Rebecca Felton. This
resolution, if passed, will support a
ballot referendum asking students if
they want PIRGIM funded through
MSA.
Muenchow said he was "dis -
appointed to see the assembly refuse
to reaffirm what 16,800 students
called for in a petition," referring to
a PIRGIM petition drive conducted
last year.
This petition was presented to
the Board of Regents in November
as evidence of student interest in
PIRGIM, but the regents indicated
that the petition drive would not
obligate them to support the group.
Instead, according to PIRGIM
members, the regents advised the
group to appeal to MSA.
PIRGIM member Wendy Seiden
said the defeat of the first proposal
indicated MSA support of PIRGIM.
support
"I think it shows that students want
to work to save PIRGIM on
campus," she said. Seiden could not
predict the outcome of the second
vote.
Muenchow has disputed MSA's
responsibility to fund PIRGIM
since the idea was proposed by the
regents. "There are too many
administrative problems with
organizing the fees and MSA, aside
from the questions of the role of
student government and the role of a
PIRG," he said.
Muenchow maintained PIRGIM
should appeal to the regents for
funding, saying, "the regents did not
publicly say 'no.' It was two and a
half weeks before the elections -
they knew it would not help them
in the elections to deal with this
issue.
Other assembly members said
the regents had already indicated that
they definitely opposed funding
PIRGIM. Assembly member and
Rackham student Mojahid David
cited a statement made by Regent
James Waters (D-Muskegon) in
November, "For all practical
purposes it's clear that the majority
of the regents do not support a
refusable fee."
Students may- vote on either of
the ballot referenda in March if it
receives the required 1,000 student
signatures, whether or not it is
endorsed by MSA. PIRGIM Chair
Andrew Swenson said the group is
seeking MSA's support because "we
want to know what MSA concerns
are and make a proposal that will
help MSA and PIRGIM to
cooperate."
Program helps kids cope with divorce
By TIM OMARZU we studied blame themselves for the divorce," are more vulnerable than older children
Divorce is hard for all involved, so the said Kalter. have support groups among their friends.
University has a program to help young "But if they're in a group...and one of them children are likely to get angry or bitter aft
children who are often hardest hit. says 'I think I caused my parents divorce,' the divorce.
The program, called Support Groups for others can say, I don't think you caused your "Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth grade boys
Children, is run by Psychology Prof. Neil parents divorce', and of course, that helps," he often fight and-not do well academically..
Kalter, co-director of the University's divorce said. have quieter kinds of problems. The
who
Older
ter the
s will
girls
y get
clinic.
In the support group, elementary school
children of divorced parents take a special class
one hour a week for 8 weeks. They share their
problems with a psychologist and other children
of divorce from the same grade.
The group therapy program helps children
stop blaming themselves.
"Almost three-quarters of the six-year-olds
Many parents fail to talk to their two- and
three-year-old children about divorce, Kalter
said. "By the time they're five or six, one-third
of the kids are having trouble, and the other
two-thirds are wrestling with these issues in
their heads."
Younger children are likely to think that
something they did caused the divorce and are
more likely to be depressed or subdued. They
depressed and socially isolated," Kalter said.
Either way of coping can alienate children
from their peers. But talking with peers whose
parents are divorced helps children form
suppotive friendships.
The support group helps children com -
municate with their parents as well as their
peers.
See PROF, Page 5
MSA leader encourages
student involvement
By MARTHA SEVETSON
She is comfortable wearing
ripped Levis and a leather wrist
band, in contrast to the affluent
New York childhood of this bright-
eyed student leader. Framed by a red
Profile
bulletin board advertising "Sexual
Assault Awareness Days" and
"Safewalk," Hillary Farber tapped a
pencil on her "very own desk with
her own phone," and smiled. She
recalled her campaign to join the
Michigan Student Assembly.
"I wanted to be involved -
total," she explained. "I'm really
interested in a lot of issues that go
on in the community; I've been
that way wherever I've lived."
Farber, an LSA junior, became
interested in MSA during her
sophomore year when anti-Semitic
and racist graffiti was an issue on
campus. Today, she is chair of the
assembly's Women's Issues Com -
mittee.
"I wanted to know what kinds of
things I could do on campus," she
said. When she went back to
Manhattan during vacation, she
spoke with the President of the
National Council for Christians and
Jews.
Armed with the "ammunition"
she gathered, Farber returned to Ann
Arbor expecting to propose a new
committee. To her surprise, the
assembly had already formed the
United Community Against
Racism (UCARE) in December
1985.
"UCARE involved about seven
people trying to deal with projects
that were going to address these
attacks," Farber recalled, leaning
back in her chair. "I wasn't a real
stellar member, but what I saw of
UCARE was a lot of people really
committed, and that was something
I wanted to see more of."
"At MSA, people were really
gung-ho," she continued. "I saw
energy in this place, and I wanted to
be a part of that."
Farber became an official part of
MSA after last March's elections.
She was elected chair of the
Women's Issues Committee in
April, replacing former chair Debra
Kohnstamm.
Farber glanced at program ad -
vertisements wallpapering the MSA
See STUDENT, Page 2
INSIDE
Opponents should not trash the
Coalition for Democracy in
Latin America's newsletter.
OPINIONI PAGE 4
Laissez le bantemps rolle! Queen
Ida and her zydeco band are in
town.
ARTS, PAGE 7'
A young salt explains why
Daily Photo by SCOTT LITUCHY
Hillary Farber, chairperson of MSA's Women's Issues Committee, became involved in campus organizations
during her first year at the University.
Protest committee,
formed by Greeks
Filipino journalist
, Mdiscusses revolution
By STEVEN TUCH
A Greek activist organization
will be one of thirteen groups
participating in tomorrow's rally on
the Diag protesting nuclear weapon
testing.
Greeks For Peace is a recently-
formed rnunn of "sorority and
would mobilize Greeks when they
met at the state Democratic
Convention.
Greeks For Peace is a non-
partisan, multi-issue group that
hopes to deal with topics such as
nuclear disarmament, sexism,
racism, and other topics that might
By DAVID WEBSTER
During the 15 years Severino
Arcones worked as a radio journalist
in the Philippines, he survived
threats on his life by government
and military officials, accepted
bribes from former President
Ferdinand Marcos and his wife
Imelda, and was accused of libel
Journalists Fellowships at the
University. He hopes to use the
radio and television production
skills he has sharpened here to
improve the techniques and stan -
dards of journalism practiced in the
Philippines. Arcones plans on
returning to the Philippines as soon
as his fellowship ends in May.
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