4 OPINION Page 6 Monday, September 19, 1988 The Michigan Daily 4 Econ. Dept. fosters elitism 'Solving the problem of underrepresentation of Blacks on university faculties will require, among other things, a revolution in Blacks' attitudes towards higher education comparable to that among white women in the last two decades.' - LSA Dean and Prof. of Economics Peter 0. Steiner (L.S.A. Fall Newsletter, 1987). By Mark R. Greer Professor Steiner's quote does much to reveal the nature of institutional racism and sexism within our University. Universities go out of their way to legit- imize the most oppressive institutions in our culture, and one way they do so is by promulgating ideologies denigrating Blacks, women and the economically dis- alvantaged. As many of you have probably heard a thousand times, the University views it- self as an "elite institution." An "elite university" differentiates itself from less prestigious ones by integrating itself with major political and economic institutions more than the latter do - an "elite institution" possesses credentials and re- sources beneficial to these institutions. An "elite university" is adept at attracting re-' search funding from major corporations, the military and well-financed "think tanks." It also has professional connections .with the highest echelons of government. An example of the valuable service that an "elite university" performs for the government is the -University's bending Greer is a doctoral candidate in the De- partment of Economics and Vice-President ofRackham Student Government. over backwards to legitimize U.S. foreign policy and honoring Ferdinand Marcos, Jeane Kirkpatrick and the Shah of Iran with honorary doctoral degrees in the humanities. As you can imagine, this atmosphere places a considerable premium on research and publication apologizing for the status quo, and social critics are persona non grata on the faculty here. For example, the University once expelled economics pro- fessor Lawrence Klein because he was previously a member of the Communist Party-USA. (This purged economist subsequently won the Nobel Prize in Eco- nomics, and the University has never had a Nobel Laureate on its faculty - ever.) Since minorities and women tend to be more conscious of racism and sexism in our culture than white men are, their scholarship has a greater propensity to criticize existing institutions than that of white men do. They consequently fall into the underworld of heretics and humanitari- ans, and are unwelcome on the faculty of "elite institutions." The absence of mi- norities and women on the faculty deprives women and minority students of role models and mentors in the "intelligentsia," making the University a difficult institu- tion with which to feel an identification. You may find this account for institu- tional racism and sexism overly simplis- tic. However, an excellent example of how this mechanism works is provided by recent faculty hiring decisions right here in the University's own economics depart- ment, a department with no women and only one Black holding full-time profes- sorships. Like many orthodoxies in the social sciences, mainstream economics provides an ideological support for racism and sexism by asserting there is something wrong with minorities and women that causes them to earn less than what white men earn. According to orthodox economics, women earn only 60 percent of what men with an equivalent level of education earn because women generally put less effort into their jobs than men do and are thus less productive than men are. (If the reader finds this too silly to believe, see Gary equal." Lipsey, Steiner and Purvis, Eco- nomics, eighth ed., p. 18.) Given the racist, sexist overtones of mainstream economics, we should not be surprised that very few women and minor- ity economists take it seriously and that a disproportionate number of them are crit- ics of it. Their tendency to be critical of orthodoxy recently undercut efforts to hire two Black economists here at a time when the department had several faculty posi- tions open. Of these two economists who applied for a University economics faculty position, one is already a tenured, full professor of economics at Stanford Uni- versity and an author of forty published scholarly works. The other recently re- ceived her doctorate from M.I.T., the most 'Like many orthodoxies in the social sciences, mainstream eco- nomics provides an ideological support for racism and sexism by asserting there is something wrong with minorities and women that causes them to earn less than what white men earn.' economists, critical of the theories of ins come inequality mentioned above. Inaction on this matter by the highest executive officers of the University calls into question their claims that they are making a serious effort to rectify their dismal minority recruitment track record, Even though they were warned beforehand of the serious obstacles of institutiona. racism the potential recruit from Stanfordi faced, University President (then Vice-t President and Provost) Duderstadt andLSA Dean Peter Steiner refused to take any, action whatsoever to ensure that he would have a fair shot of landing a job here. Evidently, the administration has decided to deal with institutional racism and, sexism by setting aside money for th& hiring of minorities and women, theni leaving it up to the departments to make sure that none actually are hired. Given that any graduate student wishing to study why it is that Blacks and womeg earn less than what white men earn woul4 have to study the material examined ear; Tier, we should not be surprised that verWf few minorities and women have chosen t1 pursue a career in academic economics, a@ least within its orthodoxy. This pathetid state of affairs, in conjunction with the crackdown on unorthodox approache' presently going on within the University's economics department, leaves students in. terested in wage inequality with no choice but to take a course taught by a whitd male and attributing such inequality to tha inferiority of Blacks and women. Smali wonder that so many minority student(i decide to go elsewhere. Becker, Journal of Labor Economics 3 (supplement 1985): pp. 33-58.) The lower earnings of Blacks, relative to whites, supposedly can be attributed to similar factors, according to certain lumi- naries within the orthodoxy. (This outlook led the Professor Steiner to fantasize of evidence of differences in intelligence among the races: "For example, many scientists are not prepared to consider evi- dence that there may be differences in in- telligence among races because as good liberals they feel that all races ought to be prestigious economics doctoral program in the world, and was a visiting professor at Yale at the time she applied for a tenure- track position. In light of these creden- tials, there was obviously no legitimate reason for the economics department not to seriously consider hiring them. Hiring these applicants would not have cost the department a dime of its budget, because the University has set aside funding for minority faculty positions. In both cases, though, the department refused to even in- terview them, because they are dissident 01 e Mihga aiy Edited and managed by students at The University of Michigan Vol. XCVI, No. 8 420 Maynard St. Ann Arbor, MI 48109 Editorials represent a majority opinion of the Daily's Editorial Board EMU I 'South African poisons RECENTLY, THE SOUTH Africa- based organization Chemwatch re- ported that the levels of the herbicide 2,4,5-T in that country's rainwater have reached 10,000 times the limit considered safe in the United States. This herbicide contains dioxin, the toxic ingredient in Agent Orange re- sponsible for the deaths of many Viet- nam veterans and Vietnamese people and their children. In the past year, 2,4,5-T was banned in many countries world-wide. According to Africa News, supplies of the chemical are being dumped onto the markets of the few countries that have not banned it. A South African forest worker said her job is to spray trees with 2,4,5-T. Although she herself wears protective clothing, her fellow workers are left completely exposed. In addition to the direct danger to forest workers, the chemical also seeps into the water sys- tems and causes a phenomenon similar to acid rain. In certain areas herbicide essentially rains from the sky. No one is sure where the chemical comes from. Farm Ag, the South African company which distributes products containing 2,4,5-T, refused to reveal the source of its supplies. When the Weekly Mail questioned the South African Department of Agriculture, of- ficials said they could not reveal that type of information but they believed that the 2,4,5-T had been bought in Europe before the chemical was banned. It is possible that the chemical comes from existing stockpiles somewhere. However a New Zealand company controlled by Dow Chemical continued to produce 2, 4, 5-T until the end of last year, according to Africa News. Until recently, Dow has had a plant in South Africa and still supplies herbi- cides to South African companies, it is the most likely culprit. Africa News has called for a complete investigation of Dow's possible role in the herbicide poisoning. Negligence of agencies such as the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has long been a concern in the United States. However, in the Third World, environmental issues fall under no definite jurisdiction. If Dow Chemi- cal is indeed at fault, then the situation involves an American company cir- cumventing environmental restrictions by committing abuses in a foreign country where they are not illegal. There seems to be no agency that is specifically responsible for preventing such situations. The EPA does provide an informa- tional service about toxic substances for Third World countries. But unfor- tunately, if the activity in question is outside the United States, the EPA can take no action. Likewise, the U.N. has passed resolutions recommending that Third World countries be informed about dangerous chemicals entering their territories, but these resolutions are only advisory and have no en- forcement mechanism. In countries such as South Africa where the government does not choose to pass protective environmental legis- lation or heed worldwide warnings, American companies can continue to abuse this ignorance and indifference by dumping the toxic chemicals that are banned elsewhere. It is vital that this type of situation be placed unequivo- cally under the jurisdiction of some agency that is monitored by an impar- tial, international organization and backed by the power of law. Other- wise, the people and the trees and the rainfall of South Africa will continue to be poisoned. By Sandra Steingraber But everyone else is doing it! This mode of reasoning seldom won us any points during ethical debates with our parents. But, strangely enough, this identical ar- gument has been put forth by members of the administration to justify its recent de- cision to deputize two campus security officers. Deputization was first formally pro- posed last July in a memo from then President Robben Fleming to the Board of Regents. Fleming stated, "...ours is the only Department of Public Safety force in either the Big Ten or among all Michigan public institutions of higher education which does not presently have such power [of deputization]." More recently, University information director Keith Molin justified deputization by noting that it gives the University "the authority that all other universities have had" (Ann Arbor News, 9/16/88). And when asked by the Daily to explain why the University needed campus deputies, Sheriff Ron Schebil responded that the re- quest for deputization on the part of Uni- versity administrators was "not unusual." Schebil pointed to Eastern Michigan Uni- versity which has employed deputized officers since 1961. Such arguments, of course, beg the critical question: why, after 171 years of not needing campus deputies, has the University decided to invest itself with police authority now? Nevertheless, it is instructive to look at the situation at other universities that do have deputized security officers in order to see what function they serve. Since the letter of agreement drawn up by the University and the Washtenaw Country Sheriff's Department was mod- eled after the one used to authorize deputies for EMU, it would seem espe- Steingraber is a Daily Opinion Page staff writer. eputies lii cially useful to take a look at that campus. According to John Garland, chief of public security at EMU, all 19 members of the EMU department of public safety are sworn deputies. All carry handcuffs and firearms, and all are required to receive training as police officers before being hired as EMU security officers. These officers have police powers in all of Washtenaw County. On campus, these security officers carry keys to dormitories. Some members are organized into a substance abuse task force. In 1974, Garland was sued by a stu- dent for illegal search and seizure involv- ing drugs found in a dorm room. The judge ruled in favor of the student, and the ke ours? may be a lot more going on with them than we're aware." Because of the exemp- tion of deputized security forces under the Freedom of Information Act, the Eastern Echo has been unable to obtain certain documents about the activities of EMU's department of security. "Students here don't have a lot of re}. spect for them [the deputies]," said Satko, "They're laughable. They're really incom- petent. They just don't have the experi- ence. They're really young - a lot of them 20 and 21 years old. They want toe, become cops, so they use this as a train-; ing ground.... And they just had that offi- cer who blew the guy away in Ypsilanti." This reference is to Ypsilanti police f 'It's more of a personal touch with the officers from the Uni- versity. It's more like a handslapping. You'd be surprised at how appreciative students are of that. It works well because students have grown up with it.' - John Garland, EMU chief of public security case was settled outside of court for $4000. In an interview with Daily on Septem- ber 8, Garland said there are two main ad- vantages of university deputies: It prevents the negative publicity that inevitably ac- companies incidents between students and police, and it gives students the opportu- nity to "grow up with the police depart- ment." Garland's own description of the role of EMU's deputies serves to clarify his phi- losophy: "We work with all of the resi- dence hall staff. We work with orientation of freshpersons. It seems like every activ- ity that comes up, we have some input into it.... A lot of students have never had an opportunity to meet police officers. It's more of a personal touch with the officers from the University. It's more like a handslapping. You'd be surprised at how appreciative students are of that. It works well because students have grown up with it." Does this vision of a benevolent police state seem as creepy to EMU students as it sounds? Sally Satko, editor-in-chief of the Ea: tern Echo, said she hears from a lot of students who are fed up with the campus deputies there. Moreover, she said, "there officer Theodore Justice who has been4 charged with manslaughter in the Augusti 15 death of an Ypsilanti homeowner shot( during an investigation of a burglary. Jus- tice had previously served as an EMU campus deputy. Garland and Satko do agree on one thing: EMU is not U of M. Both empha- size that crime rates are higher and politi- cal activism much less a part of the stu-' dent body there than here. Neither could remember a student protest in recent memory that had resulted in anyone get- ting arrested by city or university officers. Since deputization here came about as a direct response to student protest --as 4 stated openly in Fleming's memo to the regents - it seems odd for University ad- ministrators to emphasize the similarity of the two campuses. After all, when gradu- ate students asked why the University had not adopted EMU or MSU's solution to the problem of tuition waiver taxes, they were told by Rackham Dean John D'Arms, that "responses appropriate for one university are rarely appropriate for ant other." a And the central question still remains:. After 171 years without deputies, why has the University administration now decided to invest itself with police authority? E~ttrst te dio......... Daily fix.'...................... . ".. .r.".. """"" .. Nazi 'rights'," 9/16/88) and the denial of free assembly privi- the First Amendment to protect only that expression which n,.Prlc nn nrtcn -cnnPrh practices in promoting minor- ity employees.