The Michigan Daily-Friday, January 29, 1988- Page 3
.
If JOA
By HAMPTON DELLINGER
and EDDY MENG
When the Detroit Free Press and
The Detroit News announced their
desire to partially merge in April
1986, they probably didn't expect
the trouble they've been having.
Now, with an administrative
judge recommending that U.S.
Attorney General Edwin Meese deny
approval to the Joint Operating
Agreement (JOA), experts continue
to debate how much the Free Press
really needs the consolidation.
A JOA would allow the nation's
9th and 10th largest papers to merge
advertising, circulation, and business
operations but maintain independent
news and editorial departments.
Such mergers are allowed by the
Doctor
recounts
interment
camp
By NICOLE DEAN ,
Dr. Yazuru Takeshita did not have
a typical American childhood.
While others cruised the streets of
their hometown, Takeshita and
110,000 other Japanese Americans
spent World War II in an American
concentration camp, surrounded by
barbed wire and machine guns.
Last night, Takeshita spoke to a
small group of students in a
Couzens Hall lounge about his
experiences, trying to promote
awareness that "this thing happened
in America...Let history record not
only our successes but our failures."
The government acted as if
ethnicity determined loyalty, said
Takeshita, a Public Health professor.
Japanese Americans were discrim-
inated against merely on the basis of
their ancestory. It is the same as
blaming the victim, he said, "The
rape victim being blamed for the
rape."
"We who looked like the enemy
were a target." Takeshita said, adding
that the United States government's
attitude was, "It makes no difference
whether he is an American or not if
he is Japanese."
"I don't want anything like this to
happen to anyone again. It is an
experience I don't wish upon
anyone," he said. Noting that few
people spoke up in defense of the
Japanese, he quoted Nobel Peace
Prize winner Elie Wiesel, "I learned
the perils of language and those of
silence."
Takeshita related the discrimin-
ation he encountered to those other
minorities still encounter today.
"What Martin Luther King stood for,
was not just equality for the Blacks
but for everybody. He was talking
about America."
Today, Takeshita said, most
Japanese are not even regarded as
minorities. "Only when numbers are
needed do I get counted as a minority
faculty."
Many students said they found the
speech very informative. After the
speech, Cornelius Harris, an LSA
sophmore said, "It's like getting a
real education."
However, a few people felt more
of Takeshita's personal experiences
should have been relayed. "I would
have liked to hear more of his own
experience in the camp." said Jamie
Armistead, a first-year engineering
student.
fails, read Free Press while
Attorney general threatens to nix merger
)
1970 Newspaper Preservation Act if
one paper in a community is in
danger of failing. Knight-Ridder.
owner of the Free Press, has claimed
$35 million in losses over the past 5
years, said the paper will go under
without a JOA.
The Free Press recently started a
public relations campaign to gather
support for the JOA prior to the
February hearing with Meese. The
campaign received support from 14
out of 18 members of the Michigan
congressional delegation in Wash-
ington, who will send a letter
supporting the JOA to the Attorney
General.
Free Press spokesperson Alan
Lenhoff did not know how the letter
will affect the eventual decision.
"The plan was to get influential
people to write on our behalf, but
we don't know if it will make a
difference. Our hope is that it will
make (Meese) think long and hard,"
he said.
U.S. Representative John
Conyers (D-Detroit) is one of the
four members of the Michigan
delegation who did not support the
letter. He has been opposed to the
JOA since its inception.
Conyers said he does not want to
see the Free Press fold, but he is
suspicious of both the paper and the
JOA. He is concerned with the jobs
of the some 4,000 employees in-;
volved, and he wonders if the Free
Press has considered all its options,
such as trimming its staff or selling
the paper.
Lenhoff did not think a sale of the
Free Press is possible because he
doubted any buyer can make any
money with the paper. But he is
confident that the Free Pre
profitable if a JOA is appro
University Communica
James Buckley believes
Press can make it without
the paper raises circula
advertising rates and reduce
calls "organizational slack.'
"The Free Press has
many people working f
They need to get 'lean an
said Buckley.
Neil Shine, who has
years with the Free Press a
and editor, echoes Buckl
you can
tightening solution. "If the fie
Press was prepared to lay-off 16r
ciii 20 percent of its staff, redzce
coverage, close down a few bureaus,
maybe drop a wire service, it cOLd
ss can be stay in business,' said Shine.'
ved. But he added, "the paper wouldn't
tion Prof. be the same."
the Free Buckley praised the administrative
a JOA if law judges' decision against the
tion and JOA. Like the judge, hedoubts t t
s what he "within a newspaper organizaton
s wa you can merge all the other tpin-
ctions and keep the editorial boa'rd
wor them separate."
d men'," Communication Prof. David
d mean, Bishop, an ombudsperson with the
spent 38 Ann Arbor News, opposes the JQA.
is er 3He disagrees with the notion that
s a writer without the Free Press there would
cy's belt- be only one voice. ,
Access
denied
r -
Krug: Reagan Administration i
keeps information from public
By ELIZABETH STUPPLER
President Ronald Reagan restricts
more information from the public
than any previous administration,
said Judith Krug, director of the
office for Intellectual Freedom of the
American Library Association
(ALA).
About 50 people attended her
speech, entitled "The Impact of
Reagan Years and Intellectual Free-
dom" yesterday at the Michigan
League.
"During the Reagan era,
information is no longer as access-
ible... it is classified now more than
ever," said Krug.
She wants to preserve the United
States' intellectual freedom - "The
right of every person to believe what
he wants on every subject and his
right to orally or graphically express
it."
Krug said it is the job of the
ALA to make "ideas available for all
to acquire, preserve, organize and
disseminate." Reagan, she said, fears
information and does not trust the
American public to view it.
"He feels information is a disease,
that it needs to be quarantined, con-
trolled and eventually cured," warned
Krug. She believes that this effects
the library's access to information.
According to Krug's statistics,
the Reagan Administration elim-
inates one out of four government
papers. These documents range from
weather forecasts to Iran-Contra
dealings.
Krug has sent two formal
complaints to the director of the FBI
for its Library Awareness Program.
This program would enable agents to
monitor students' reading habits,
especially those students from for-
eign nations hostile towards the
United States, she said.
Libraries across the country are
opposed to the surveillance program
set up to assist law enforcement and
anti-terrorist organizations. Krug
emphasized the library will not
monitor the use of reading materials.
"What you read is your business.
When reading becomes action thee
is time enough to act," she said.
Another problem, said Krug, is
the effect of Reagan's limitations of
intellectual freedom and court cases.
Over the past seven years Reagan
has appointed 320 federal judges
including three Supreme Cou~t-
members.
There are patterns in court d6-
cisions, she insists, that have ap-
peared in the judiciary system sinc
Reagan took office. The two thqt
greatly effect the intellectual freedom
of our nation are the regulation cf
school material and student er-
pression.
These -limitations will not di-
appear right away, even when the
administration does change in the
next election, she said.
Daily Photo by KAREN HANDELMAN
Judith Krug, director of the office for Intellectual Freedom of the
American Library Associations, said yesterday the Reagan Ad-
ministration restricts more information from the public than any
previous administration.
Report recommends more
writing in nat. sci. course
(continued from Page 1)
is a goal for all LSA faculty." And
75 percent of all LSA courses use
extended writing assignments.
But, according to the survey's
conclusion, these figures "run
counter to the picture suggested by a
good deal of faculty complaining
about student writing... Said one
political scientist, 'The poor ability
to write is quite discouraging.
Mostly student writing is lifeless
and mechanical, with no source of
animating ideas."'
The report also noted a
discrepancy in the responses of
natural science faculty - 89 percent
think improved writing skills are a
goal for all LSA faculty, but 62
percent consider extended writing
inappropriate for their courses.
One natural scientist reported, "I
have found myself appalled (sic) by
the inability of students in math
classes to write coherent, complete
sentences while solving problems or
presenting proofs."
But another responded, "I could
teach writing but who would instruct
(my class)?"
In fact, only half of all natural
science courses at the University use
extended writing, compared with 84
percent of humanities courses, and
87 percent of social science courses,
the report found.
Keller-Cohen acknowledged that
"extended writing may be more
appropriate in more humanities and
social science courses. But the low
natural sciences figure is of concern
to us. Whenever possible, a faculty
member should . be able to use
extended writing... We'd like to see
that figure higher in the natural
sciences."
She said the ECB plans to make
"special outreaches" to the natural
science departments, especially in
the form of ECB faculty training.
"These figures aren't really a fault
of the science departments
themselves. They show we need to
educate the natural science
departments ways in which they can
utilize writing," Keller-Cohen said.
The survey notes: "Other
universities have made efforts to
work with Natural Scientists to
develop .writing tasks appropriate to
their courses. For example, the
University of Massachusetts at
Amherst has incorporated writing
into some of its 100 level math
courses... to discuss how they
arrived at solutions."
TA fluency bill passes state Senate
LANSING (AP) - Responding to
complaints that they can't understandI
teachers, the State Senate overwhelm
bill Thursday requiring teaching assis
in English.
The bill, sponsored by Sen. Jose
Flint), passed the Senate by a 28-3 v(
to the House of Representatives.
"The students are paying their3
service, good education," Conroy said
V krt
college students' there is work being done in the schools to solve this
their foreign-born problem. This bill... would be a clear signal" to
ingly approved a colleges to continue those efforts.
stants to be fluent Sen. Jack Faxon (D-Farmington Hills) said he
voted against the bill because it violates the autonomy
ph Conroy (D- of state universities. "This type of interference... takes
ote and now goes on an onerous and ugly position in theh world of
international education," he said.
money for good Sen. Lana Pollack (D-Ann Arbor), who also voted
1. "I'm convinced against the bill.
1 0 ; "CaOKiES
mmm9m-m .-.. mm mm m
n a cDaily Photo by KAREN HANDELMAN
An upbeat a cappellic group, Amazin' Blue, sings in the Pendleton Room of the Michigan Union yesterday. The
group is in its inaugural year. It is a special project of UAC.
Learn the techniques for
academic excellence
Academic Writing Workshop
Plan, research, edit, revise, organize a current paper or project.
Introductory meeting Feb. 4 at 7:00 p.m. at the RLSC.
Four 2-hour sessions.
College Studies Skills Workshop
Develop study strategies for a difficult course: reading for
study, note taking, test oreparation. and time manaaement..