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..