Ninety-nine years of editorialfreedom
Vol. IC, No. 24 Ann Arbor, Michigan - Tuesday, October 11, 1988 Copyright 1988, The Michigan Daily
LSA De
to leave
by Sept.
an
I
1
BY LISA POLLAK
LSA Dean Peter Steiner will
leave office by Sept. 1, 1989,
having only served three years of a
five-year term, he said yesterday.
The announcement was not meant
to surprise; Steiner accepted a second
term as dean in 1986 with the
stipulation he would serve only three
years, said University President
James Duderstadt in a statement
yesterday.
But the announcement was a
reminder that LSA, the University's
largest college, is about to reach the
end of an eight-year era - an era
some have labelled as successful,
others stormy.
"We are enormously grateful...
for his achievements affecting the
quality of the College," Duderstadt
said, citing the new Chemical
Sciences Building, "quality" faculty
appointments, and the Humanities
Institute.
Other members of the University
community, however, will
remember Steiner best for remarks
he made last year about University
affirmative action programs, remarks
some - including the United
Coalition Against Racism and LSA
faculty members - labelled "racist."
Among those remarks was the
assertion the University should not
be a place "where minorities would
naturally flock in much greater
numbers... there are such
institutions - including Wayne
State and Howard University."
Protest over that and subsequent
remarks, as well as low numbers of
Black faculty, eventually led UCAR
to hold a 26-hour sit-in at Steiner's
office and demand his resignation
last January.
Steiner maintained then that his
remarks were taken out of context.
"We've been very disappointed in
the lack of leadership and sensitivity
that Dean Steiner has offered in
terms of combating racism in the
University," UCAR steering
committee Barbara Ransby said
yesterday, adding she hopes his
successor will be "more sensitive to
people of color and more aggressive
in terms of deinstitutionalizing
racism within LSA."
But LSA Student Government
President Barbara Eisenberger said
she has always found Steiner
receptive to student concerns. "He's
done a good job; I'll be sad to see
him leave," she said.
Details about the search
committee, to be appointed soon,
were unavailable. The committee
that chose Steiner, then a University
economics professor, in 1981 was
comprised of nine faculty and three
students.
DAVID LUBLINER/Daily
LSA junior Paul Moffitt, president of the College Democrats, cheers for State Senator Lana Pollack (D-Ann . Arbor), who
is running for a seat in U.S. Congress, yesterday during a voter registration rally on the Diag. The rally evolved into
a shouting match between Republican and Democrats.
Voting rall'
BY MICHAEL LUSTIG
A Diag rally staged yesterday intended to pro-
mote student voter registration degenerated into a
shouting match between Democrats and
Republicans.
U.S. Rep. Carl Pursell (R-Plymouth) and his
challenger for Michigan's Second Congressional
District seat, State Sen. Lana Pollack (D-Ann
Arbor), were scheduled to speak, but Pursell did
not attend, even though rally organizers had ex-
pected him.
Speaking to a crowd of about 100 people, as
well as the Diag's usual noon-time throng, Pol-
lack launched an attack on Pursell's legislative
record, zeroing in on environmental issues.
"WE'VE GOT a man in Congress who
thinks he owns the seat," Pollack told the crowd
which was speckled with a wide range of
campaign signs including "Pollack for
Congress," "Re-elect Congressman Carl Pursell,"
"Riegle for Senate," "Bush-Quayle," and
"Dukakis-Bentsen."
Pollack then held up a poster put out by
y turns into argument
Environmental Action, an environmentalist
group that named Pursell one of its "dirty dozen"
legislators with the worst records on
environmental issues.
"Carl Pursell said there's no money for clean
water, but he's got money for the MX (missile)
and the B-1 (bomber)," Pollack said.
In 1985, Pursell voted against increasing
funding for the Clean Water Act.
ANN ARBOR City Councilmember Mark
Ouimet (R-Fourth Ward), who spoke on behalf
of Pursell, said the six-term incumbent had a
"prior engagement."
In her address to the crowd, Pollack called for
more involvement in education, clean water,
health care, and an increase in the minimum
wage.
She then further attacked Pursell's record,
highlighting his vote against the Civil Rights
Restoration Act earlier this year. Pursell has "a
record that cannot be defended," she said.
As Pollack continued to speak from the steps
of the Graduate Library, crowd members grew
increasingly vocal. Shouts of "Lana, Lana" com-
peted with cries of "Bush-Quayle," disrupting
WDIV-TV reporter Emery King's attempts to
interview her.
OUIMET DID not respond to Pollack's
jabs at Pursell - in fact he complimented
Pollack's performance a state senator - but used
his time to voice his concern about recent
violence on campus, something which concerns
him greatly, he said.
Last weekend, two University students were
stabbed in front of the Michigan Union, and the
weekend before, a man was attacked near the
Stop-N-Go convenience store on East University.
Ouimet did counter a statement by Pollack,
who urged voters to vote a straight Democratic
ticket. Ouimet asked voters to "draw an educated
approach to your vote" by learning about candi-
dates and issues.
AFTER THE rally, Ouimet said, several
Pollack supporters came up to him and thanked
him for speaking on student participation. "I felt
See Voting, Page 5
6U,
student
.
violates code
First case may be resolved
by informal mediation
LSA welcon
31. new profs
Les
BY MICHELLE RABIDOUX
Many tenured professors have
long since accepted the idiosyn-
crasies of Ann Arbor. But to 31
newly-hired LSA faculty members,
the weather, the students, and the
Diag will take some getting used to.
Both new professors and graduate
students, especially those from dif-
ferent countries, make many adjust-
ments as the school year begins.
Francisca Beer, who is pursuing her
doctorate in economics and finance at
* the University under a prestigious
Belgian fellowship (she is one of
only five winners), said she learns
something new every day.
She said she remembers walking
past some potted flowers on one of.
her first days here and stooping to
pick some of them. "Everyone
looked at me as though I had done
something wrong," she said. She
wasn't aware that people don't usu-
ally pick the flowers around campus.
BUT IN general, she said she
has really enjoyed the high quality of
students around her. "I didn't know
the people here were so open-minded
and friendly," she said.
David Artis, an assistant English
professor hired from Stanford Uni-
versity, left his "infatuation with
sun, palm trees, and beaches" to
'I didn't know the people
here were so open-minded
and friendly.'
- Francisca Beer, who is
pursuing her doctorate in
economics and finance
to be preaching today when I walk
through the Diag," Artis says.
PETER NIELSEN, assistant
professor in the math department,
hails from South Africa. He received
his doctorate from Brandeis Univer-
sity earlier this year and now teaches
Math 115. He lived in South Africa
until 1984, doing his graduate work
at the University of Cape Town.
Student activism is another facet
of University life that new profes-
sors have to get used to. Nielsen
sees his students as "quite well mo-
tivated" but not at all activist.
A VISITING assistant statis-
tics professor, however, sees the
attitudes of students differently.
Joachim Engel finds the student
body very involved in the world sit-
uation. Having spent the past five
BY STEVE KNOPPER
A student accused of discrimina-
tion against homosexuals has vio-
lated the University's student anti-
harassment policy, an official ruled
Friday.
But Interim Policy Administrator
Cynthia Straub said she thinks the
problem can be resolved through in-
formal mediation. If so, a hearing
panel which would judge the stu-
dent's guilt or innocence and give
out punishment would not convene.
Business School senior Mark
Chekal, who was the first to request
a formal hearing against a student
under the policy, said he would be
satisfied if the student makes a pub-
lic apology.
Chekal took offense two weeks
ago when the other student, during
class, recited a limerick making fun
of Olympic diver Greg Louganis'
alleged homosexuality. Last week,
Chekal said, the student read an
apology - also in the form of a
limerick - during class.
Chekal said he suggested that the
student attend a "rap" about homo-
sexuals' experiences and write a let-
ter of apology to The Daily. "I'm
totally satisfied with that outcome if
it works, which I think it will,"
Chekal said yesterday.
Straub said the informal media-
tion may be worked out by the end
of this week.
LSA senior Julie Murray, chair of
the Michigan Student Assembly's
Student Rights Committee, said she
hopes the students can work out the
conflict informally. "I have no
problems with this policy so long as
this person feels he's been treated
fairly," Murray said.
Murray said she would object,
hrnP'.r vif the rprennharp o*,-
has the right to punish others in or-
der to protect students' safety.
Though she opposes the policy,
Regent Veronica Smith (R-Grosse
le) said it may have worked in this
case. "I'm glad that it's being
worked out," she said. "The whole
intent really is to educate students
not to make comments like that. I'm
glad it's being resolved without a
hearing."
Though the hearing panel may be
unnecessary in this case, Straub said
she will finish compiling a list of
people eligible for the panel by Fri-
day. According to the policy, the list
will include students nominated by
their school's government, and fac-
ulty members appointed by the
president.
In the past, student activists have
said such hearing panels constitute a
code of non-academic conduct, be-
cause it could impose punishment
for non-academic student behavior.
Some students held protests last
April when the University's Board of
Regents passed the policy.
Officials, however, said such
panels, and the policy in general,
help to combat racial and sexual ha-
rassment on campus.
DAVID LUBLiNER/Doil~y
Chemist Dr. Mary Good, chair of the National Science Board
told a crowd tJ 150 people that it takes committment for
women to get ahead in science. Her speech is one in a series
sponsored by the Center for Continuing Education of Women.
Chemist lands
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