OPINION_
Page 4
Thursday, March 19, 1987
The Michigan Daily
LETTERS
Editen stuetsaUi vichig an il
Edited and managed by students at The University of Michigan
Will this madness ever stop
Vol. XCVII, No. 115
420 Maynoard St.
Ann Arbor, MI 48109
Unsigned editorials represent a ma jority of the Daily's Editorial Board
All other cartoons, signed articles, and letters do not necessarily represent the opinion of the Daily.
Grant UCAR demands
CONTINUING RACIST INCIDENTS
at the University have prompted the
United Coalition Against Racism to
issue twelve demands to the
administration. Students should
attend the regents meeting at 3:00
today in the Fleming Building in
order to support the UCAR
demands. Students should also
join the follow-up picket at 7:00
a.m. at the Fleming Building on
Friday.
Demand 1
The most pressing problem at
the University is underrepresenta -
tion of minorities. The University
needs to increase minority student
recruiting and retention. The
regents need to make this demand a
priority in hiring, firing, promoting
and rewarding administrators in the
future to assure that adequate
enrollment levels are reached and
maintained.
Demand 2
An Office of Minority Affairs
with an autonomous board is
required to represent minority
interests to the administration and
University community. This office
could also be an organization
which minority students could turn
to for help without the fear of
discrimination.
Demand 3
A Financial Aid Appeals Office
is necessary to combat the
University tactic of attracting
minority students with largeinitial
tuition donations in the first year
which are subsequently with -
drawn. The Appeals Office would
hold Financial Aid to any promises
it made.
Demand 4
A mandatory workshop on
racism and diversity is necessary to
raise cultural awareness and racial
sensitivity among all incoming
students. The workshop would
not convert hard-core racists, but it
would raise student consciousness
about groups of people perhaps
alien to the individual's back -
ground. A workshop could also
provide positive exposure which
would help mitigate ingrained
Europocentric culture.
Demand 5
Peer support groups are essential
to the feeling of acceptance and
security that will result in student
retention. A program for incoming
minority students to meet with
other minority students and faculty
could help minimize feelings of
isolation and the increased sense of
being lost in the crowd which
minorities face at a large white
university.
Demand 6
Full tuition wavers for all
underrespresented minority stu-
dents are essential for the
University to reach acceptable
levels quickly. This goal can be
realized if the University simply
makes it a priority.
The administration builds a new
chemistry building, a new
engineering school on north cam -
pus, new parking structures, a new
hospital, and imposes a tuition
increase every year: clearly the
funds are available. The
University should not raise tuition
to fund the tuition waivers.
Providing full tuition wavers
will contribute to retention of
minority students coping with
classes, a job, and discrimination.
Demand 7
rudeness that largely arises out of
the ignorance of the heritage and
traditions of other cultures. Input
from all minority areas such as
Latin-American, Afro-American,
and Women's Studies departments
could be used to make the course
well-rounded. It is important to
recognize that the history books
used by many high schools in the
United States ignore women and
minorities.
Demand 9
Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King's
birthday requires complete can-
cellation of classes and the closing
of all University offices. Though
most religious days are not
celebrated, King symbolizes equal-
ity for an entire section of America,
regardless of faith.
Demand 10.
The administration must give an
honorary degree to African
National Congress leader Nelson
Mandela. Along with complete
divestment of University funds
from South Africa, this would
show solidarity with the suffering
of the oppressed people under
apartheid. Failure to act on this by
May commencement will show
determination by the regents to
continue the oppression of Blacks
in South Africa and racist policies
here on the home front.
Demand 11
All incidents of racial harassment
or discrimination at the University
must be publically investigated and
documented. Too many racial
incidents are forgotten or swept
under the rug, leaving the victim
afraid to appeal in the prejudiced
system. A recording mechanism to
facilitate reporting of these
unfortunate incidents would force
the community to acknowledge the
problem.
Demand 12
Individuals who commit acts of
racial harassment should be
removed from University housing.
It is a privilege to live in an
integrated setting.
The evictions, however, must be
carried out through the courts with
the University acting as a party to a
lease. The University should not
arbitrarily choose who to evict
based on its definition of racist
incident at the time. The Uni-
versity needs to write a definition
of racial harassment into the
housing lease.
When individuals violate the
racial harassment clause of the
lease, the University will have a
legal rationale for evicting them
from the dorms. In the case of
violence-threatening speech, such
as the Couzens flier incident, the
University should seek criminal
prosecution to the greatest extent
allowable under the First
Amendment. It should inform all
students of their legal rights in
regard to eviction and not use
extra-legal coercion to evict
students.
The University should seek to
educate and reform moderate and
penitent racists. Basically though,
it should always stand ready to
push for vigorous legal action in
regard to housing and criminal
matters.
In the end, the legal system
should determine how far the
University can go in prosecuting
racists. The University by itself
does not have the right to regulate
To the Daily:
Due to the recent outburst
of racist incidents being overly
publicized at the University of
Michigan I feel that it is
imperative that certain masked
issues be addressed in an
unbiased way.
Just what is the real root of
this continuing racism in our
society and our campus? Is it
really just one "sides" fault? I
hardly think so. It is true
racism is a major problem
facing all of us today by let's
be very careful when pointing
the finger.
On our campus racism
against Blacks has become
nationwide news: "Racism:
University of Michigan's
Shame." I believe the next step
to putting an end to racism
against Blacks is to integrate
Blacks and Whites and make
them both equal - totally
equal.
Why is it that our
University has to have more
minority students? Are we
looking for qualified students
or are we looking for numbers?
It disgusts me when I pick up
the Daily and read "University
to Recruit More Minorities."
Just what exactly does this
mean?
Although the admissions
office says they do not lower
their standard to accept more
Blacks, the truth is, in order to
reach their required numbers
they have to! The common
argument often brought up is
that many Blacks come from
poor neighborhoods and deserve
the chance to attend this
University. I agree with this
point but only if a White
person from an equally poor
neighborhood receives the same
chance. If he does not, then
racist problems begin: "Why
him and not me? Simply
because he is Black?"
So the University accepts
these minority students to give
them a chance. Great, but
what happens after four years,
when the Black person and the
White person have both
received the same "fine"
education and both would like
to continue on, to let's say,
medical school? Does the
medical school need numbers
too? The answer is a qualified
"yes."
The medical school, in
many instances, has to lower
:heir standards to accept the
Black student, simply because
they have to reach their quota
of minority students. Is this
fair to the white person, who
may not have outstanding
grades but has better grades
than many minorities accepted,
while both have had the chance
to receive the same education?
When does this madness stop?
Why should the medical school
be forced to take students who
are not qualified? Shouldn't it
be looking for good doctors? I
would hope so, but I guess
society doesn't have enough
Black doctors. I don't care
what color my doctor is, as
long as he is qualified. Again,
racist problems begin: "Why
him and not me? Simply
because he is Black?" This type
of situation happens in all
aspects of the University. The
above comments should not be
miscontrued. I am not saying
that all the Blacks accepted are
not qualified, but the fact is
there-many are not.
In the case of the Regents of
the University of California vs.
Bakke, who argued that he was
discrminated against by not
being accepted to the medical
school because he was not a
minority, it was decided that,
"The guarantee of equal
protection cannot mean one
thing when applied to one
individual and something else
Instead the University chooses
to separate, but this separation
is all aspects must end. By
giving a label of "Black" before
any title or name of a group,
we are promoting racism.
Think about it - why are
there organizations on campus
titled as: The Black Medical
Association, The Black Law
Student's Alliance, The Black
Psychology Student Ass -
ociation, The Black Student
Union, or even The Black
Greek System. By the titles
alone, white people cannot join
these groups due to their color.
Is this not racism? If there were
even one University related
group with the word "White"
before its title, be assured that
there would be a tremendous
racist accusing uproar on
campus.
So why are there so many
"Black" organizations on our
campus? When asked what
purpose they serve, many now
claim "to stop racism," but
how exactly are they stopping
it? Holding rallies in the Diag
is not changing anything,
people just start to ignore these
sorts of things. They need to
break out of their group and
confront people on a one to
one level, then people will
listen. Many of these
students,' as Ayn Rand has
described the Berkley radicals of
1968, "are frustrated, by a need
to protest, not knowing against
what, by a blind desire to strike
out against the University
somehow."
Now, how is the University
expected to react to these
groups and their demands? If
the University gives in to all
the demands presented, then
what will happen? Racism
will not end - it will be
worse by far. The problem is
these groups do not realize
what they will have to give uo
to achieve equality. But then
one must wonder again - is it
equality that they really want
or is it supremacy? They must
realize that to reach an
agreement one must give as
well as receive.
In conclusion, I would like
to point out that I truly believe
when someone makes a racist
comment on the radio or in a
newspaper, that most people do
not consider it funny. But4
making a list of demands and
insisting that the University
comply is no answer to ending
racism. One must understand
all the consequences and
implications of taking on such
a battle. The answer lies in
total equality for both sides
concerned, for discrimination
based on color is a double-
edged sword.
-James Elliot
March 11
Establish an Office of Minority Affairs
To the Daily:.
The United Coalition
Against Racism (UCAR), on
March 5, 1987, delivered 12
anti-racist proposals to Provost
Duderstadt and the Shapiro
administration. Proposal #2,
"ESTABLISH AN OFFICE
OF MINORITY AFFAIRS
(OMA) WITH AN AUTO -
NOMOUS SUPERVISORY
COMMISSION ELECTED
BY THE MINORITY CAM -
PUS COMMUNITY" is a
structural/organizational change
in the administration of the
University. First, a centralized
OMA would coordinate the
University initiatives of
financial aid and admissions.
Second, it would review and
construct institutional policies.
The OMA would assure free
cultural expression by
promoting positive projections
of the cultures, histories, and
activities of ethnic and racial
minority groups and members
at the University and in the
media.
The Office of Minority
Affairs must have a substantial
budget that is insulated from
cutbacks during years of
budgetary strain. The OMA
would have autonomy to
propose and effect substantive
changes in the life and affairs
of the members of the
University community and the
University itself.
Although the exact size of
the Commision (i.e., number
of students and sub-
committees) are unspecified,
the Regents Communication
(Creation of a Position:
October 1983) outlines the
positive direction in which the
University should be pro -
gressing. President Shapiro
and Provost Duderstadt have
failed to implement this plan.
An important reason that
the OMA Commission is
needed is that it instit -
utionalizes and routinizes the
collective student input on this
important issue. All of the
members of the minority
community would participate
in the determination of which
issues are important, how
those issues will be com -
municated and in what order
they will be addressed, (e.g.,
retention vs. recruitment).
Students will be able to
participate in the decision-
making processes about the
enrollment challenges.
Furthermore, the OMA
Commision would approp -
riately bring together the
MSA President comments
various sub-units of the:
University that are currently:
and incoherently working on
the challenges of increased
minority faculty/student re
tention. If the 10 percent
Black student and increased
Asian, Hispanic and Native
American enrollment goals are
to be attained, more
organizations and individuals
must be included in the
University effort directed from
the Offices of the Provost and
President. The Universit.y
must focus on retention, create4
the Office of Minority Affairs
and the Commision. Nowis
the time!
Proposed Office of
Minority Affairs Organ-
izational Outline
Associate Vice-president of
Academic Affairs
Assistant Vice-president qf
Academic Affairs
Directors of Financial Aid,
Recruitment/Staff Develogy-
ment, Special Programs
Counselors and Recruiters
Clerical support staff
-Roderick Linzie
UCAR
March 11
on racism
tutional racism, as is a re-
prioritization of resources from
programs in which there tends
to be high minority
involvement (education, social
work). This problem could b4
remedied. The lack of a
comprehensive support system
of minority programs and the
attendant retention problem
among minority students is yet
another example of institu -
tional discrimination.
I will now finish up my
remarks with some thoughts
regarding much of the recent
discussion of the implications
of a code on the current
situation.
Certainly, because of the
nature of institutional racism, a
code has no effect on this
aspect of the problem. A code
will not elicit the commitment
or prioritization necessary to
effect changes in this area. I
firmly believe that one cannot
legislate attitudes. Prevention,
not punishment, is the pro-
active means of combating
racism.
In conclusion, racism at the
University of Michigan can be
divided into two manifesta -
tions: personal racism due to
To the Daily:
Many of the recent incidents
of personal racism - those
blatant attacks on the
community - have a complex
set of causal factors. First, I
am sure that a few of the
incidents have been perpetuated
out of genuinely malicious
feeling of hate and intolerance.
Thankfully, I feel that these
cases compose the minority of
the incidents which occur. As
Dr. Shapiro pointed out at the
hearing with Congressman
Hood, there are complex socio-
economic consideration.
I am convinced that racist
attitudes held by students,
faculty and staff are borne out
of ignorance and, in many
cases, attendant fear.
Examples of this manifestation
of ignorance and intolerance in
the form of blatant racism are
the WJJX incident, the
Couzen's flyers, and verbal and
personal harassment of black
students on campus.
There are steps the University
can take to combat the racism
on this (personal) level. First,
a "tell someone" program
similar to the sexual
harassment program could be
developed by the
them in a positive, inquisitive
and, instructive way. Inclusion
of minority perspective and
history in existing curriculum
could also heighten student and
faculty cultural awareness.
Orientation represents another
area where students could be
encouraged to take positive
action on their feelings of
discomfort when exposed tc
others different from them -
selves. Finally, work-shops,
conferences, etc...can also add
to the educational opportunity
which is necessary to prevent
racism due to ignorance and
foster a positive response to
diversity.
The other aspect of racial
discrimination here at the
University of Michigan is the
condition of institutional
racism. Institutional racism is
not the personal intolerance of
any individual in the admini -
stration or staff. Rather,
institutional racism is a subtle,
many times unintentional,
form of discrimination built
into the institutional structure
of various programs, services,
etc.
Examples of institutional
racism may better explain the
nature of this part of the