4 OPINION Page 4 Wednesday, April 8, 1987 The Michigan Daily Edited and managed by students at The University of Michigan TAs enhance Vol. XCVII, No. 129 420 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. Canada and acid rain PRESIDENT REAGAN'S agenda obviously underscores his ignor - ance of environmental issues. His stance on acid rain most clearly illustrates his malicious miscon - ceptions. With the success of this week's meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney depending heavily upon this issue, the president's apathetic attitude to this problem may prove hazardous to U.S.-Canada relations. As U.S. factories continue to release untreated emissions, the incidence and severity of acid rain multiplies not only in Canada, but in the northeast United States as well. Consequently, this invisible threat injures the home turf, especially its fisheries and vacation trade, and thus provides an impetus for action by a president concerned only with the condition of his own country. With thousands of acres of dead and dying forests and as many nearly lifeless lakes, President Reagan must reverse his deplorable environmental record and address the devastating effects of acid rain. Despite many conclusive studies of this airborne malady and its ever increasing environmental and eco - nomic toll, Mr. Reagan skirts the issue by claiming that at least three more years of study are necessary toallow for better understanding of the "complex" problem. However, the president cannot afford to "wait for additional research results" to attack a problem which affects not only the environment, but U.S.- Canada relations. Although President Reagan may ostensibly reject more acid rain control for lack of "convincing" research, his underlying motive is most likely protection for large, polluting industries and high-sulfur coal producers. These manu - facturers, already reeling under intense foreign competition, would most probably sink under the weight of cleanup costs. The coal industry, struggling to reverse languishing demand and increasing costs also could not survive such policies. Thus, President Reagan must cast aside his "small govern - ment" rhetoric and subsidize the costs of clean air technology. Mr. Reagan could even justify the government funding of such cleanup programs as necessary to uphold his free trade policies. Without Reagan's commitment to significant progress on curbing acid rain, the Canadians will probably attempt to impose economic sanctions on the United States or build a three-thousand mile long wall along the border. However one views the situation, lack of action on the problem will likely result in retaliatory trade policies. Realizing that the Canadians will place so much emphasis upon the acid rain issue, President Reagan decided last week to call for $2.5 billion over five years in appropria - tions for cleanup funding. Un - fortunately, this was not a new proposal, but a return to the initial appropriations request after a decrease to $350 million. This re - newed expenditure request should be increased even further in order to stave off trading difficulties with Canada and, more significantly, to begin to correct the disastrous environmental and economic ef - fects of acid rain in both countries. By Belinda Davis and Peter Appelbaum We would like to propose a project which promises to "enhance undergraduate education," "sustain and improve undergraduate education," and "bring greater focus to undergraduate education," in accordance with the stated aims of the Undergraduate Initiatives Fund request for proposals. In meeting the needs for enhanced quality, "especially in...the freshman and sophomore years," we propose the constitution of a body of graduate students who will make the vital link between professor and undergraduate in the large lecture courses which comprise much of a University of Michigan education. Undergraduates would be divided into groups of up to twenty, and meet once or twice a week with a graduate student in order to discuss the lectures and assigned readings. In this way, the students will come to understand what it is they've heard and read. Students will have the opportunity to participate actively, developing their own ideas and learning from others. In addition, the graduate student would write constructive comments on the undergraduates' written work, aiding the improvement of their analytical and writing skills, ability to conduct a lab experiment, and particular skills associated with the various disciplines. Further, students would have Belinda Davis and Peter Appelbaum are University graduate students the opportunity to meet with the; student to discuss individual dif Such a program would, we believ in bringing "greater focus and c to the undergraduate experience." In fact we discuss here" activities of demonstrated exc Bearing the burden of nearly 50p the University's teaching lo permitting students to complet having some idea about what it were to have learned, the Uni Teaching Assistant program is ex in fulfilling the University's stat thus, we feel certain it is this prc which Mr. Duderstadt refersv notes in his request for propos staff of the University have ( made contributions to student grc development. Therefore, it follows that su and improving this already- program is a natural way to "su improve undergraduate educati recommend the following measu 1. Limitation of class size. that a class of more than twenty loses its ability to "enhance a undergraduate education." 2. TA training. We feel certai ipating graduate students w enthusiastic about the opporti enhance their own efforts in in undergraduate education. Natura graduate students should be com for their efforts, just as Mr. Dud compensated for his. (Well..s like Mr. Duderstadt is compen his.) 3. Maintenance of quality of education graduate students to fill these positions. fficulties. A. Permit them to eat. ve, go far B. Keep potential grad students oherence from going anywhere in the country but here in search of the goal of being able to "existing eat. The new tax law, coupled with ellence." inflation, will render this impossible in ercent of Ann Arbor next year under present ad, and contract conditions. Moreover, this e a class cannot but seriously damage minority was they recruitment and retention. versity's We are confident that such measures fit xemplary in the "wide range of experiments ed goals; designed to improve the quality of ogram to undergraduate education." when he We propose, therefore, that in order to als, "the "sustain and improve" this program of sic) also "demonstrable excellence," one which owth and cannot be replaced by any other in its ability to "bring coherence and focus to ustaining undergraduate education," that the extra -existing one million dollars lying around that stain and came to fund the new "Undergraduate on." We Initiatives Program" be given to the res: University negotiator, Colleen Dolan- We feel Greene, who claims she cannot find any students money, to be applied in toto as a partial nd focus step toward meeting a reasonable contract for the University's Teaching Assistants. n partic - Project Director: The Graduate ould be Employees Organization has generously unity to agreed to direct this program. mproving Budget: $1,000,000.00 illy, these This will make a tidy contribution npensated toward the 1.4 million needed to erstadt is underwrite a full TA tuition waiver. We omething anticipate resourceful University sated for negotiators will then meet this contribution to cover the balance of the graduate waiver, as well as TA training. 4 4 4 ETTERS TAs need and deserve better treatment Butt out C ONGRESS WILL SOON BE considering legislation which would ban cigarette advertisements from the print media. Such legislation is based upon the well-founded fear that cigarette smoking can be detrimental to your health, but this cannot justify an abridgment of our First Amendment rights. Statistics show that most of the people addicted to smoking are hooked as minors. Many organizations, such as the American Heart Association and the American Lung Association, try to educate minors about the dangers of smoking in hope of dissuading them from taking up the habit. Government health services also spend considerable sums to make people aware of the health risks involved in smoking. However, glamorous advertisements put out by the cigarette industry make these efforts practically useless. The advertisements imply that by smoking you can lead a healthy, adventurous life. In reality, smoking is liable to give you lung cancer and a shorter life expectancy. The cigarette manufacturers are a powerful international industry. Presently, a very small number of nations, including the United States, have been able to regulate the These groups neglect the different legal status of print and broadcast media. Because the number of broadcast frequencies is limited, the law deems the airwaves to be owned by the public. This gives the government the power to enact. extensive regulation of broadcasting to insure that this limited resource is used in the public interest. Print media are 'fundamentally different because there is no theoretical limit on the number of newspapers or magazines which can be printed and distributed. Therefore, while TV and radio still enjoy considerable First Amendment protection, the government has far more power to govern broadcasting than to regulate print media. In seeking to ban cigarette ads, the government is trying to impose its ethical decisions on the people of the United States. If we concede the government the right to ban cigarette ads because of their "unethical" nature, we would have set a precedent upon which the written press can be censored. What will the government consider "unethical" tomorrow? Perhaps criticism of government policies or news the government finds embarrassing. The decision to run a cigarette ad in a magazine or newspaper should rest entirely within the publication's .r To the Daily: Teaching Assistants don't want to strike, and are well aware of the difficulties which a strike will cause to the undergraduates here. What I would like to stress is that graduate students here would not be supporting a strike if we didn't feel stuck between the proverbial rock and a hard place by the University admin - istration. My case is similar to that of most graduate students. I have $12,000 in debt between college and one year of graduate school. My pay as a TA is $460 per month for 8 months. Out of that, I have to pay $2,000 in tuition not covered by the waiver, $325 per month rent, plus living expenses. It doesn't take math to realize that this is a negative'income. To make ends meet, I had to borrow $4000 this year. But because the earning potential of a Ph.D. candidate, even from Training! To the Daily: Teaching assistants in biology are committed to high quality undergraduate education. We are concerned that inadequate training and large class size hinder the attainment of this goal. The Graduate Employees Organization (GEO) is nego- tiating a new contract with the University. One part of GEO's proposal is mandatory paid training for teaching assistants. The University offers only voluntary unpaid training. The University has allocated $1 million to improve undergraduate education. Why not use $50,000 annually to train all first time teaching assistants.? Since teaching assistants do about forty percent of the undergraduate teaching, this could have a major positive impact. Currently, many classes are too large for effective dis- cussion or individual instruc- tion. GEO proposes that each department form committees of To the Daily: The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) is appealing for $20.6 million to provide emergency help for . Palestinian refugees in Lebanon. UNRWA is the only reliefaorganization that is being allowed into the camps. The Agency's first priority is to ensure that refugees in the greatest need receive adequate supplies of food and clean water. The next step is to restore UNRWA's health, education, and welfare services in Burj El-Barajneh, Rashidieh, and Shatila camps. The third step is to clear rubble in the camps, repair camp infrastructure and help refugees repair shelters. The situation in the refugee camps is desperate. The camps have been under intermittent fire by Lebanon's Amal militia since May 1985, but the people in the camps have been under siege by Amal for more than four months. The camps are, thus, completely surrounded by Amal and no food has entered until very recently. UNRWA is allowed to enter the camps only once a week. the best programs, is an average of $24,000 per. year, I can't afford to bQrrow much more money, especially with 6-7 years-of graduate school still ahead of me. I don't have the luxury of accepting the University's current offer. Most other graduate programs have full tuition waivers, and grant residency to more students than does the U of M. These schools realize that a teaching assistantship is not a sop thrown our way while we are in graduate school. It is a part of our professional training for a career in academia, for a career as teachers. Until the University comes up with a salary that reflects the eco - nomic realities of graduate school, and not the wishful Support today's bucket driv thinking of a group of admin - istrators isolated in the Fleming Administration buil - ding, U of M will continue to lose its competitive status in attracting the best students. And everyone, undergraduates, faculty, and graduate students will be the losers. -Jennifer Gurahian March 30 e for refugees For the sake of tens of thousands of starving civilians in Lebanon, a number of Ann Arbor students, faculty, and residents will bucket drive today, Wednesday, April 8th, at five locations around Ann Arbor: Engineering Arch, the Diag, the corner of North University and State, St. (Kresge's), the corner of State St. and Liberty (at Border's), and in front of the Michigan Union. -Steve Ghannam the November 29th Committee for Palestine 4 1.1- -, 1 .