Ninety-eight years of editorialfreedom Vol. XCVIII, No. 57 Ann Arbor, Michigan -.Tuesday, December 1, 1987 Copyright 1987, The Michigan Daily Term papej By MARTHA SEVETSON College students expect to shell out big bucks for tuition, room, board, and books, but how many budget money for their assignments? At $7 a page, mass- produced research papers aren't cheap - and the students who buy them risk paying a much higher price. The student found buying a paper is punished with suspension or expulsion, but the seller is rewarded with huge profits. Under the University's Code of Academic Conduct, a plagiarism infraction will become a permanent part of the student's transcript. The seller of the paper likely will go scot free. Author's Research in Chicago, Research Assistance in California, and the local Collegiate Reference Publications all publicly advertise mail-order research papers with legal impunity. "THERE IS NO federal plagiarism law or fraud English profs. discuss firms pro fi law," said John Russell, a federal Justice Department spokesperson. He said using the mail to deceive students might constitute mail fraud, but otherwise the service is completely legal. "It's hard to establish that (the firms) are doing anything wrong," said Dan Sharphorn, a legal counsel to the University administration. "If you could prove their intention is for students to use it for their own work - soliciting students to fraud - it could conceivably be a criminal act." University officials would like to take action against such firms, but they have no form of recourse. The companies can only be stopped if they fail to fulfill their own claims. IN 1972, the state's attorney general, Frank Kelley, got an injunction against Write-On, a firm that sold the same paper to two University students in the same course, An Introduction to English Literature. without punishment The students, who failed the course, had been guaranteed the papers were "one-of-a-kind." But the companies since have learned to outsmart their opposition. A student who purchases a paper is expected to sign a waiver of responsibility and mail it back to the firm. The 18-year owner of Research Assistance, who refused to give his name, has advertised "research papers for research purposes" in The Daily, but he firmly denies selling any type of "term paper." He was unable to define the difference between "research papers" and "term papers." "These are not finished products that can be turned in as is," he said. "It's unlikely, unless someone had the exact assignment, that (a purchased paper) would be perfect for them." BUT HIS CATALOG - with 15,000 papers ranging from "anthropology to zoology" - tells a different story. Authors' Research advertises over 16,000 topics, including specific assignments such as "The Behavioral Approach to Treating Depression." The papers are unpublished and unsigned, so they cannot be used as a research reference. The manuscript includes editorial comments - "Your introduction should state your purpose" - and each page is stamped: "Intended for Research Purposes Only." The papers are delivered in mimeograph form, complete with spelling and grammatical errors. The student cannot turn in the paper verbatim, but the obstacles are nothing a little retyping can't overcome. University Psychology Prof. Chris Peterson, who recently graded a purchased term paper for The Daily, said he never would have recognized the paper as plagiarism. He could not surmise the number of students who use such papers. See TERM, P. 2 Polish voters reject plan for reforms, proposal By ELIZABETH ATKINS English department faculty mem- bers are discussing a proposal that r would require concentrators to take a course exploring literature written by minorities, women, or English- writing Africans, Asians, and Car- ibbeans. The proposal, made by the de- partment's curriculum committee, may be voted upon by department faculty members as soon as January, said Prof. Lincoln Faller, who drafted the proposal. Currently, English department policy requires concentrators to take six courses: Core I, II, III, Poetry 240, pre-1800 literature, and a senior seminar. The core courses span English literature from the creation of the language to contemporary literature and most have focused on white male writers, who have tended to dominate Western literature. Senior seminars are designed to provide English concentrators with one small, more intimate course that allows faculty more freedom in se- lecting literature. Nevertheless, none of the courses offered next term fea- ture minority writers. Prof. Alan Wald, a supporter of the proposal, said the current required courses show institutionalized exclusion of minority and women's literature. "We have to take steps now to institutionalize alternatives. I think this would be an excellent start in that direction," Wald said. THE PROPOSAL by the committee, which reviews the de- partment curriculum and proposes changes, comes in response to a re- quest by the University's administration for the all de- partments to address issues of racism and sexism. The committee created a list of ways to address the issues and recently decided to focus on the class requirements. Before the proposal comes to a vote, the idea is sparking lengthy discussions among department pro- fessors and teaching assistants. Prof. James Gindin said, "I am opposed to making this a require- ment, but I think we should discuss it and do as much as we can," Gindin said. Dolly Photo by ROBIN LOZNAK High kicking Graduate student Eduardo Somarriba, a red belt, left, spars with first-year Engineering student Darren Stevens at the U of M Tae Kwon Do Club practice yesterday. Faculty, staff salatry record released today WARSAW, Poland (AP) - Voters rejected economic and pol- itical reforms, including painful price increases, that Poland's com- munist leaders said were needed to revitalize an ailing, debt-ridden economy, the government said yes- terday. The results of Sunday's bold and unique referendum dealt a stunning blow to the government of Gen. Wojciech Jaruzelski, which strongly campaigned for passage of the two questions put to the voters. It was Poland's first referendum in 41 years and the first time in the nation's communist history that the authorities suffered a loss in nation- wide elections. Government spokesperson Jerzy Urban put a positive face on the outcome, noting that many more people voted in favor of the ques- tions than against them. By law, a majority of eligible voters had to approve for them to pass. He said the voters' failure to ap- prove the questions was "an answer to all who maintained our democratic institutions are a facade and that the democratic transformations are not true." Leaders of the outlawed Solidarity free trade union movement had called the plebiscite a charade and urged Poles to ignore it. The powerful Roman Catholic church did not take a stance. "I want to confirm the deter- mination of the authorities to con- tinue reforms and the democratic procedure of consulting the opinions of voters on issues vital to every- one," Urban said. The government has, however, previously said that if it lost the referendum, reforms would continue, but at a slower rate. It has already made moves to streamline its econ- omic planning. Urban gave these results: To the first question, on econ- omic reform, 64 percent of those voting said "yes" and 27.7 percent said "no," with the remainder of the ballots blank or otherwise invalid. To the second question, on political reform, 69 percent said "yes," 24.6 percent said "no. Final figures showed that 67.2 percent of eligible voters partici- pated. The government said it was the lowest percentage turnout of any election in the nation's postwar history. Solidarity leaders have disputed turnout figures in past general elec- tions, when only government-sanc- tioned candidates have run. Before Solidarity's rise, elections in Poland typically attracted 99 per- cent of the electorate, according to official figures. In Moscow, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Gennady Gerasimov praised the Polish referendum, but said a similar mandate on Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev's program for change is unnecessary in his country. By EVE BECKER For the next few days, faculty and staff will be seen entering and quickly exiting the Student Publica- tions Building studying a folded newspaper which lists the salary of their peers. Normally staid professors will enter the building in droves to sat- isfy their curiosity, studying pages of small print to see how their salary compares to others in their depart- ment. About 2,000 of the annual faculty salary supplements are being sold for two dollars each on the sec- ond floor of the Student Publications Building at 420 Maynard St. Under the state's Freedom of In- formation Act, the salary records of public officials must be released upon request. The University chooses to publish all salaries once a year rather than responding to ad hoc requests, said Assistant Director of Personnel Edward Hughes. For the 1987-88 school year, 170 faculty members made over $100,00, 74 more than last year. This year, for the first time, women faculty and staff members have earned over $100,000. THE HIGHEST PAID Uni- versity employee is Mark Orringer, Section Head of Thoracic Surgery at the Medical School, with a salary of $190,800. The other faculty members who The Daily's Faculty and Staff Salary Supplement is avail- able beginning today. T h e supplementmay be purchased, for $2 on the second floor of the Student Publications Building during regular bus- iness hours. hold the highest salaries are Chair of Surgery Lazar Greenfield with $181,260, Professor of Thoracic Surgery Marvin Kirsh with $170,130, Section Head of Neuro- surgery Julian Hoff with $168,540, and Vice Provost for Medical Affairs George Zuidema with $168,522. Five women have surpassed the $100,000 mark this year. Senior Associate Director of the University Hospital and chair of the radiology department Ellen Marszalek-Gaucher was the highest paid woman with a salary of $110,000. The other high-paid women w'ere Dean of Nursing Rhetaugh Dumas with $105,846, Associate Professor of Neurosurgery Joan Venes with $103,477, Professor of Pathology Kathleen Heidelberger with $103,000, and Director of Alterna- tive Care Delivery Systems at Uni- versity Hospital Sandra Billingslea with $102,816. Most of the faculty and staff members who earned over $100,000 are department heads or professors in the Medical School or the University Hospitals. A few of the high-earners are law professors. THIS YEAR University Presi- dent Harold Shapiro has a salary of $135,300, up from $127,000 last, year. Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost James Duderstadt will make $128,400, up 9.5 percent See 170, P. 3 Soviets will not build space-based system, Gorbachev promises - Languages draw more interest MOSCOW (AP) - The Soviet Union "is doing all that the United States is doing" to defend against nuclear attack, but will not build a space-based system, Mikhail Gor- bachev said in an interview broadcast yesterday. Acknowledging what the Reagan administration has long contended, the Soviet leader said: "I guess we are engaged in research, basic re- search, which related to these aspects which are covered by the SDI in the United States." SDI means Strategic Defense Initiative, the formal name President Reagan has given the space-based defense project commonly called "Stars Wars." In response to a suggestion that the Soviets are trying to militarize space in the same way envisioned by Star Wars, however, Gorbachev said: "We will not build an SDI. We half the superpowers' long-range nuclear weapons. During the sum- mit, they are expected to sign a treaty getting rid of all intermediate- range missiles. "We have some steps that we could take to meet the American position halfway," Gorbachev said. He added, however, that he was not going to Washington to negotiate the future of Star Wars, which the Kremlin contends is limited to research by the 1972 antiballistic missile treaty.x Although the Senate never ratified that treaty, both sides have observed its terms. "Let America indulge in research. Insofar as SDI does not run counter to ABM," Gorbachev said. "That is not a subject for negotiations." About other possible arms agreements, the Soviet leader said: "We btiieve it is possible to do a lot By JOON KANG As if mastering the English language wasn't difficult enough, more U.S. college students are taking up foreign languages. An estimated 1,003,234 students in the country's. colleges and universities studied languages other than English last fall, according to a report due to be released in January by the national Modern Languages Association. About 4,800 of these students were from office figures. The biggest increase in popularity the past five years has occurred in Chinese and Japanese. "China has opened up politically in recent years and there are a lot more opportunities to visit and do business," said Chinese Prof. William Baxter. "We get a lot of students from the business fields who are combining their professional interests with, 0..i.,