The Michigan Daily - Friday, October 14, 1988 - Page 5

Speakers discuss
Marxism, religion

Poet speaks

BY MICAH SCHMIT
In the softly lit, cozy seating of
the Rackham building's fourth floor
amphitheater yesterday, an attentive
audience of 50 gathered to witness
the opening of an "unprecedented in-
ternational conference," focusing
upon the traditionally exclusive roles
of religion and Marxism in commu-
nist Europe and East Asia.
"Communist countries tend to
marginalize religion and take it out
of the public," said Roman Szpor-
luk, director of the University's
Center for Russian and East Euro-
pean Studies, who coordinated the
ovent. "Examples like Poland show
that religion in the open can actually
help deal with public issues like
drime and health."
Although Karl Marx, widely
viewed as the father of communism,
donsidered religion the "opiate of the
masses," many of the conference's
speakers appeared to challenge the
notion that atheism is essential to
Marxism.
Speakers at the 3-day conference,
Religion axed Marxism in East
6entralFurope," hail from England,
France, Germany, India, China, and
Canada, as well as from around the
United States.
Research
Continued from Page 1
keeps him involved.
Paul Green, associate research
scientist in Human Factors Division
at the University's Transportation
Research Institute and adjunct assis-
tant professor of Industrial and
Operations Engineering, has been
ivolved in many research projects

Open to the public, the confer-
ence runs through tomorrow and
presents these scholars with the op-
portunity to meet with each other
and the University community.
The program is divided into four
sections. Yesterdays's focused upon
the developments in Poland; Friday's
will address the Global and East Eu-
ropean accounts of religion and
Marxism; and tomorrow's discussion
will center on religion in the Soviet
Union.
Kasia Kietlinska, a Ph.D. candi-
date in English and teaching assis-
tant at the University, said she as-
signed yesterday's presentation on
Catholicism and Marxism in Poland
as a practice writing topic to her
class. "I wanted something ade-
quately exotic, something they don't
know much about."
LSA first-year student Todd
Weiser said, "I thought it was tough
to follow with their heavy accents,
but it was interesting from what I
understood."
Szporluk emphasized that while
at college, "You should have the ex-
perience to see, to hear, to discuss
issues with international
(intellectual) leaders who come from
very far away."
over the years. His recent studies in-
clude determining which types of
switches are most effective, along
with letter and number sizes on in-
strument panels.
"We're very careful about who we
select," says Green. He tries to ob-
tain a representative sample of the
adult driving population which in-
cludes both students and elderly peo-
ple.

on
of

plight
women

BY TARA GRUZEN
Human beings need to learn to
live together, poet Nikki Giovanni
told a crowd that filled the Union
Ballroom last night. "It's time we
woke up... Segregation by either
Blacks or whites is not conducive to
academic learning."
Giovanni, brought to the Univer-
sity by the Michigan Student As-
sembly Women's Issues Lecture Se-
ries, concentrated on the plight of
both women and Blacks. "It's not
right that the best of us always get
hurt," Giovanni said.
The next person to travel in space
should be a Black woman who could
light up a cigarette, take a look
around, and write some good poetry,
she said, drawing laughter from the
JESSICA GREENE/Doily crowd. But on a more senous note,
Poet Nikki Giovanni speaks in the Union Ballroom last nightGiovanni said the present level of
about the struggle of both women and Blacks. mediocrity that discriminates against

women and Blacks should not be
tolerated.
The 1988 presidential election,
she said, is "a sad race." Giovanni
said she was aggravated that Jesse
Jackson was not selected as the vice-
presidential candidate on the Demo-
cratic ticket. She also discredited the
accusation that Walter Mondale lost
the 1984 presidential election be-
cause Geraldine Ferraro was on his
ticket.
In addition, she spoke about sex,
calling it "one of the most over-rated
things in this world, along with
coffee." People should wait to have
sex until they are in love, she said.
The three things that are most
important in Giovanni's life are be-
ing a good daughter, a good mother,
and a good writer, she explained. But
of the three, she said writing is the
only thing over which she feels she
has complete control.




o THE
WEIGHT
CONTROL
CLINIC OC
at the
Universfty of Michigan
CA ll 7A7''

N EW CLASSES
BEGIN
TOBE R 24, 1988

Are you religious, but not "churchy"?
Seeking a church that involves itself in social concerns?
Do you believe a church should work for peace on earth?
then maybe YOU ARE A QUAKER and don't know it...
come and find out:
3 introductory meetings for those who are curious
to know more about Quakerism.
Sun. Oct. 16: Bases of Quaker Beliefs
Sun. Oct. 23: Silent Worship
Sun. Oct. 30: Social Action
All at the Ann Arbor Friends (Quaker) Meeting house
1420 Hill Street, Ann Arbor
jn7tow9pm
You are most welcome!

07 7'3

%Ze cecule/a/ ?D $9C e/ a'/
Is no Secret!

THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHXGAN
FOURTH ANNUAL MINORITY STUDENT
ORIENTATION PROGRAM
BEYOND DIVE RSITY:
BU.LDING A
MUL~TCULTURAL COMM UNITY
THURSDAY. OCTOBER 19, 1988
6:00 p.m.
ICHJIGAN LAGUE
New Students will have t he oportunity to meet with faculty staff. and continuing students

Jostens Gold Sale. For one week only. Order and save on the gold ring of your choice.
Jo(STENS
A M E R I C A S C 0 L L E G E R I N G
Stop by and see a Jostens representative
Wed. Oct. 12 - Fri. Oct. 14
11a.m. to 4 p.m.
to select a complete line of gold rings,