4 OPINION Page 4 Wednesday, October 12, 1988 The MichigaonDaily Power manipulates objective By Brian Nienhaus I have kept the Weekend Magazine of October 23, 1987 on my desk now for what amounts to a year now. It has sur- vived numerous cleaning binges - twice I threw it away, only to retrieve it from the dust bin after some half-conscious second thought. It's grungy now. Still, yellowing and brittle, the mag- azine bothers me every time I pick it up. Page one is a photo of the Weekend ed- itors happily embracing and wearing sharp baggy sweaters and jackets. There is a photo of the news staff on page 4, ac- companying an article entitled "Here's the FASHION SCOOP!!!" Captioning the photo are the names of job titles of the news staff. On page 6, the reader is told to refer back to the page 4 photo, but this time re- placing their names and occupations with media bodies, reclothe them in sweaters and denims, photo them an replace their names witi numbers, and pop them into a lifestyle article. They could remain very still and nonparticipatory in all of this- numbers (left to right) and accompanying descriptions. Here's one of them: "Robert Scott ltd. turtleneck, tricot St. Raphael sweater, rough hewn denim skirt available at Bag- piper. Prices available on request." This is obviously the result of a cute idea of the 'total marketing plan' in which a publication's contents are determined by what its marketing staff considers to be oh so nice. Looking back at the photo again, I see one of my old mass communication students Rob Earle. Now he's a "Jay Todd shirt, $16, and necktie, $8; Coder Jacket, $85, and pants, $30. Available at Chess King." And.here I thought he was the editor-in- chief. The same magic unfolds throughout the rest of the magazine. First the sports staff, then the business staff, and in mystical procession the photo, the opinion, and the arts staff of the Daily - all turned into numbered mannequins modeling clothes. Well, it's a year late but here's my gripe: I thought and still think that it was both arrogant and poor taste for the Daily to flaunt its total dependence on consumer marketing enterprise like they did through- out that magazine. Had they no shame? Fashion ads and photo layouts set up like they were articles? Daily staff members creating and then participating in an artificial advertising event? And then using a standard feature article lay out conven- tions to cover it up? That's my gripe, and here's why I'm writing to you now: this past week some Michigan Daily staffers participated in a protest demonstration of the inauguration of President Duderstadt. A couple were ar- rested and another staffer was injured and taken to the hospital. Daily staff members were clearly participating in an event covered by the Daily. In Monday's Ann Arbor News there was an article about a regent who was upset by this participation. In her interview with Regent Philip Power, News reporter Karen Grassmuck includes the following quote: "When staff members report on events and then turn around and participate in them, I'm troubled by it." I hope both she and I got it right; I want to be objective. Anyway, Regent Power, of newspaper family stock, was upset by this participation, and he did what any decent citizen of our free system would do- he called up his local paper and had an article written about his concerns, mak- ing sure to offer a couple of pithy state- ments that are a newspaper's equivalent of the television sound bite so that the object of his dismay would survive any inverted- pyramid editing. All well and good for Regent Power. I'll even grant him that the excuses given for this turn of events by the Daily have been and will continue to be flimsy at best. Staffers were participating, even if the person who wrote the article was not. You see, Regent Power probably believes that when a person aspires to the profession of journalism, they should not 4 'Regent Power probably believes that when a person as- pires to the profession of journalism, they should not wear that aspiration lightly, like a Bugatchi sweater.' wear that aspiration lightly, like a Bugatchi sweater. He would want the ethics of objective professional journalism to envelop the person twenty-four hours a day, keeping out the taint and pollution of real-world activity. To put this in another way, Regent Power would perhaps feel better if jour- nalists remained hermetically sealed off from the events of their world, inactive and internally pure. Then conceivably, one could take up these angelic journalists, remove their clothes gently from their I very objective. Perhaps this captures something of Regent Power's vision of objective journalism, and maybe that's why he didn't get on the phone last October to have his anger crystalized in an Ann Arbor News article back then. He was just seeing objective journalists displayed in creative layout. I'd just like him to know that I was looking at the same thing and seeing mannequins. Brian Nienhaus is a graduate student in communications. 4 4 /Fil9 Photo Daily Arts people pose in last year's Fall Fashion issue. They are all wearing clothes provided by Daily advertisers. JESSICA GREENE/Daily Ann Arbor police arrest Daily Opinion Page staff writer Rollie Hud- son outside of Hill Auditorium during President James Duderstadt's inauguration. 4 ae weAirbtiran Badl Edited and managed by students at The University of Michigan 420 Maynard St. Vol. IC, No. 25 Ann Arbor, MI 48109 Unsigned editorials represent a majority of the Daily's Editorial Board. Allother cartoons, signed articles, and letters do not necessarily represent the opinion of the Daily. Ltersoe etor Greek Skewed on iM system defended [ore lies I fraternities about frats Free University THE HUGE AMOUNT of money spent on President James Duderstadt's inau- guration last Thursday is outrageous when students continue to be priced out of the University. The 12 percent tu- ition hike enacted by the board of Re- gents has made a universit.y education even less accessible to people of lower incomes. The Scholastic Aptitude Test, a major factor in undergraduate admissions, has been shown to predict only the in- come of a student's parents - not a student's ability to succeed in college. These standardized tests have also been demonstrated to be racially and cultur- ally biased. Similar tests such as the Graduate Record Exam are used for admission to graduate schools. The University makes an effort to re- cruit only those students it knows will be able to pay. University recruiters visit no Detroit public schools (except Renaissance and Cass - two selective high schools which base admissions on examinations.) Instead they concentrate on the largely white and much more af- fluent suburbs. In this way many urban Blacks are discouraged from applying since they remain unaware of the financial aid that might be available. According to Nikki Hall, an LSA ju- nior who attended Renaissance, "If I'd gone to Redford [another Detroit high school] or somewhere, I probably wouldn't have known that there were opportunities open to me." Not only is the admissions process a barrier to the diversity of which Duder- stadt constantly boasts, the combina- tion of the tuition hike and inadequate financial aid has closed the door to many students. Although minorities are as a group much poorer and less able to absorb the raised tuition, no federal or state funding has been specifically tar- geted for minorities. Thus, the effect of the tuition hike has been to close the university to the disadvantaged, who are largely minorities and women. LSA Dean Peter Steiner's ten-term limit on graduate student support works against equal treatment of women, minorities and people with lower incomes. Many women and mi- norities received a less comprehensive undergraduate education. For example, undergraduate female science majors are sometimes counseled out of taking higher math or lab courses and are forced to use up some of their ten terms filling in these gaps in graduate school. Women are also less able than men to pay for .their own education beyond these ten terms. Proposals to increase federal loans might provide a short term solution but ignore the root of the problem. The loan system is itself riddled with racism and sexism. Minorities and women are less able to pay back the loans since they are tracked into lower paying jobs and are also less likely to receive the loans in the first place. The only real solution is for the gov- ernment to completely subsidize higher education. If the economic factor could be removed from campuses, then many of the most substantial barriers to "diversity" would also disappear. In the meantime, 12 percent tuition hikes only make the situation worse. To the Daily: I have endured liberal and skewed writing for two years without comment, but Stoney Jones' article on fraternity rush (Weekend, 10/7) is the perfect ex--ample of what might have been an excellent article had the Daily not tried to sensationalize a sit-uation without any back-up. Jones (who does not even have the guts to print his real name) wrote what I thought was an ex-cellent article on his experiences with fraternity rush. However, it is very clear in his article that he went into rush with a big chip on his shoulder. I don't understand why an ar- ticle which was objective overall had to be contaminated with per-sonal digs and uncalled for pot-shots. Jones says, "fraternities were far less offensive as a whole than I previously thought. I met very few of the stereotypical...." This tells me that he went into rush with his opinions already set, and it was up to the fraternity to disprove the idea. The cover was what I found most troublesome. Why was this editorial comment placed on the front cover of Weekend? I feel the whole article would have been best placed in the Opinion sec-tion! Also, there was not a dis-claimer in the story anywhere. So I take it that you and the rest of the Daily all believe that frater-- nity members are all "pretty- boy womanizers." Not to mention Fat Al's famous quote, "Fuck frat, get fat." Oh, by the way, obscen-ities rank un there with sun-norting an To the Daily: This is in response to Rollie Hudson's column, "The Greek Alternative" (10/10/88). From the beginning this column was far from objective and eventually so offensive that I felt obligated to respond. First, the author claims the Greek system fosters a "rape culture," and he offers a substantiating quote: "Men are encouraged to treat women aggressively and women are encouraged to submit." This generalization of all members of the Greek system is bad enough, but failure to sub- stantiate it immediately detracts from the author's credibility. He fails to explain how men are encouraged to treat women aggressively and how and why women are encouraged to submit. Furthermore, his claim that "women are given too much alcohol and drugs and are abused" is absurd and offensive. Here Hudson is assuming that all fraternity men try to do is get women drunk and that women quietly comply. To depict women as unconscious, unscrupulous followers is both belittling to them and to the intelligence of the reader. The view of women as objects, which the author himself seems to suggest, is nothing short of sexist. Another disturbing claim is that "excess alcohol consumption and the objectification of women as sex objects are integral parts of the Greek system." The author fails to cite even one example where this situation exists anywhere, let alone on our negative ideas? I think not. Any system whose integral as- pects were debauchery and hedonism would not have survived for over 150 years. Hudson claims the Greek system is racist, a place where "white exclusiveness is accept- able." No one I know would agree with this statement. It is clearly and undisputably unac- ceptable, immoral and unconstitutional. In my opinion, to claim that the Greek system and all of its members foster racism is nothing short of slanderous and completely worthy of retraction. This is the same basisrthattracists attribute towards other races and religions: ignorance based on misunderstanding. Hudson estimates that people in the Greek system give only $29 on average to charity. Philanthropy is not mandatory. No law or statute or even cultural attitude dictates that anyone must give to philanthropy. The facts that people choose to give of their time, energy and money is a credit to them - Greek or non- Greek. It is extremely pretentious of the author to assume that $29 is tool paltry an amount to give to charity and that the giver of this donation is an elitist, wealthy scrooge. To give of oneself to another person or organization is clearly magnanimous. The most offensive remark was the line, "The Greek system perpetuates an anti- intellectual existence which champions apathy. Hudson says the Greek system "does not nurture progressive in- dividuals who are concerned with maximizing their full equivalent of calling the Daily objective. Both claims are completely ludicrous. -Joseph K. Hart October 10 Black Greeks respond To the Daily: There are several issues within Rollie Hudson's "The Greek Alternative?" we feel compelled to address. We fell it is our duty not only as students of the University but also as members of the Black Greek system to enlighten Hudson about his misconceptions so boldly stated in his column. It should be understood that Black and white systems are separate. However, this separa- tion is by choice and to a certain extent is defined by cultural variations. Each system operates by different goals, objectives, mottos and traditions. In essence, the only common bond that we share are the letters of the Greek alphabet. We were appalled by Hudson's statement concerning the amount of money donated to charity through Greek organizations. Each Black Greek organization is committed to service on a local, national and international level. We would like to stress service not "charity!" Each year our efforts help to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars for community-oriented causes. The monies generated within our organizations are not used for the purposes of 4 4 { d