4
OPINION
Friday, October 21, 1988
Page 4
Edited and managed by students at The University of Michigan
r Ait'; ' n DailyR
Vietnam
4
Punishing
Vol. IC, No.32
420 Maynard St.
Ann Arbor, MI 48109
Unsigned editorials represent a majority of the Daily's Editorial Board. All other
cartoons, signed articles, and letters do not necessarily represent the opinion
of the Daily.
Stop secret searches
JAMES DUDERSTADT'S ascension to
the University presidency this fall left
vacant his former position of provost
and vice president for academic affairs.
Selecting a successor is Duderstadt's
first important decision, and, pre-
dictably, he is using the same clandes-
tine and illegitimate process that carried
him to power.
The search for the new provost is
being conducted through unannounced,
closed meetings. Duderstadt created a
committee of 13 non-voting members
to advise him on his search - ten fac-
ulty, two administrators, and, thank
you, one student.
The provost's key responsibilities
- setting tuition rates and allocating
funds to academic programs - pro-
foundly effect student's lives. Students
have the least input on the provost se-
lection, but are the most affected by the
provost's decisions. This is unfair and
unacceptable. One token student advi-
sor on the search committee cannot ef-
fectively research candidates - even if
the student's recommendation was
taken seriously.
The procedure for selecting the
provost is testimony to Duderstadt's
hypocrisy of promising diversity while
delivering unilateral decisions and per-
petuating student disempowerment.
Because the provost controls the
budget and shapes curriculum through
funding, it is considered the number
two position here. As provost, Duder-
stadt exacerbated the research-oriented
focus of the University by flooding the
engineering and business schools with
money while siphoning funds from
many arts and humanities programs
alien to his understanding and contrary
to his aims. Students in non-empirical
concentrations pay ever-increasing tu-
ition for shrinking curricula.
It is not surprising that Duderstadt's
top choices to fill the University's
number two position are Engineering
School Dean Charles Vest and Busi-
ness School Dean Gilber Whitaker.
While Duderstadt was provost, the
business school enjoyed a 43 percent
funding increase, barely edging out the
engineering school's 41 percent hike.
Vest, Duderstadt's shadow, became
engineering school dean when Duder-
stadt became provost in 1986.
Duderstadt, chair of the provost
search committee, will recommend a
successor to the University's Board of
Regents in either November or
December. If he is sincere about
diversity and student input, he must
suspend the search until a student
committee, with voting power, is
created to ensure that the voice of the
overwhelming majority of people on
By appointing either Vest or
Whitaker, Duderstadt would send a
message to the campus and the state
that he plans to continue the Univer-
sity's skewed priorities while main-
taining a front that he wants a diversi-
fied campus.
By Hong Le
And there is a school of thought which
says: The Government of Vietnam must
be punished for what it did in the war.
-U.S. Senator Mark Hatfield,
The Congressional Record S6699,
May 26, 1988
The United States won the Vietnam
War. The devastation wrought upon Viet-
nam's agricultural and industrial sectors by
the United States' saturation bombing
campaigns and defoliation with carcino-
genic Agent Orange compound, combined
with the United States' present embargo
against this country, has left Vietnam one
of the poorest countries on earth. Indeed,
due to the underdevelopment of Viet-
namese agriculture, the average Viet-
namese citizen consumes, on average, 400
calories less per day than that needed to
remain healthy. Current U.S. policy to-
ward Vietnam, and its effects, reflects a
craven brutality toward Third-World peo-
ples, as well as the cynical, amoral phi-
losophy of realpolitik that has guided U.S.
foreign policy for the past half-century.
Taking the the issue of the inhumanity
of U.S. policy toward Vietnam first, the
United States' economic stranglehold on
this poor country is largely responsible for
the crisis of hunger there. Under the Trad-
ing With the Enemy Act, all transactions
between anyone in the United States and
any person in Vietnam must receive prior
licensing from the U.S. State Department,
and the Reagan State Department licenses
virtually nothing. Taking measures in ad-
dition to the Trading With the Enemy Act,
the United States has bullied its allies in
Southeast Asia into following its eco-
nomic embargo, at one point even coerc-
ing Japan into scrapping plans to build a
Honda plant there. The United States'
western European allies have followed suit
as well.
As a result of Vietnam's inability to
obtain spare parts for the American-made
equipment constituting much of its indus-
trial and transportation infrastructure,
Vietnam's per capita agricultural output
Hong Le is a member of the World
Hunger Education Action Committee
has continued to decline. The crisis has
deteriorated to the point where begging is
now seen for the first time on the streets
of some of the cities, and the growth of a
whole generation of children is being
stunted. Judging from Hatfield's state-
ment, along with the U.S. government's
reneging on Nixon's pledge to provide
billions of dollars in reconstruction aid,
these are the intended effects of U.S. pol-
icy.
Although U.S. politicians extol the
virtues of the private property system and
minimal governmental intervention in it,
they have a double standard in the case of
Vietnam-they won't even let Vietnamese
refugees here in the United States send
money back to their poverty-stricken rela-
tives. The United States even balked at al-
lowing a group of school children in
Kansas to send educational supplies they
blockade of Vietnam reflects a sincere
commitment to returning the Khmer;
Rouge to power, or is merely a smoke-
screen to punish Vietnam for successfully
establishing its independence during the,
Vietnam War. We certainly can't immedi-
ately rule out the former possibility, since:
the United States vigorously supports;
gangs of murderers elsewhere in the Third-}
World, such as the Contras in Nicaragua
and the death squads in El Salvador and;
Guatemala. However, it seems the latter is'
more likely the case, since the Khmer
Rouge has been known to act in-y
dependently of U.S. interests, unlike the:
Contras, the death squads, etc..
Finally, to note two characteristics
shared by all countries subjected to eco-
nomic embargoes by the United States re-
veals much about the character of U.S.
foreign policy, both past and present: One,
'The United States even balked at allowing a group of
school children in Kansas to send educational supplies they
had collected to children in Kampuchea (Cambodia).'
had collected to children in Kampuchea
(Cambodia,) another Third-World country
blockaded by the United States.
U.S. policy toward Vietnam would be
shocking enough, were it not the case that
this policy is also tied in with U.S. sup-
port of the brutal Khmer Rouge guerillas
in Kampuchea, which is presently occu-
pied by Vietnamese troops to keep Pol
Pot from returning to power there. (The
Khmer Rouge murdered over 2 million
Kampucheans when they were in power
during the late 1970s and were the topic of
the film, "The Killing Fields.') The
United States has used the Vietnamese oc-
cupation of Kampuchea as an excuse for
the embargo and has even given political
support to the Khmer Rouge, by demand-
ing that they, rather than the Vietnamese-
backed government, be seated as Kam-
puchea's official representative to the U.N.
in 1979. The United States also supports
the delivery of weapons to Pol Pot's thugs
through Thailand.
Now, we can ask ourselves whether
United States' using the occupation of
Kampuchea as a justification for the
each of them-North Korea, Vietnam;
Kampuchea, Cuba and Nicaragua -suc-
cessfully established their independence
from the United States through armed
conflict. Secondly, the inhabitants of each
are people of color.
One of the primary impediments toward
changing U.S. policy toward Vietnam, as
well as Indochina in general, is a lack of
awareness among the U.S. electorate about
U.S. wrongdoing there-few here in the
United States are even aware of the various
embargoes the United States has slapped
against Third-World countries, and if they
did know, they certainly wouldn't like its
To help rectify this problem, the World
Hunger Education-Action Committe&
(WHE-AC) has organized a speaking event
on this important topic. At 7:30 p.m. n
Monday, October 24 in the Pendletdc
Room of the Michigan Union, the Rev;
erend Barbara Fuller, a founding member
of the Interfaith Council for Peace and fre-
quent traveler to Vietnam, and Rav
Khanna of Oxfam America will discuss
U.S. policy toward Vietnam and Kam-
puchea and its devastating consequences.
Cleaning is denial
I
If- AMIEI1WC&IS bOQ4& iTo coMAE ,I
n i R Rttit1@iGtv
TWO WEEKS AGO, 70 brave women
painted signs saying "A Woman Was
Raped Here" at over 280 locations
around town. Each sign was within
one block of the site of a reported rape
(which may have occurred in a car or
home rather than on the street).
People have been discussing these
signs for two weeks now, but the me-
dia has either ignored the action or fo-
cused on whether the signs were at ac-
tual rape sites. This has obscured the
facts and issues behind them.
The media response ignores the im-
portant message of the action: that rape
pervades our lives, and that we must
acknowledge its presence and its
meaning to fight it.
Since the action, many women have
become afraid to go by these sites. This
was not the intent of the action. Rapes
are not typically committed by a
stranger on a dark street, but rather by
an acquaintance in a residence. Four
out of five rapes are by an acquain-
tance; half are in a residence, with only
20 percent outside and the rest in cars
and public buildings. So the men who
rape are often the men you know.
The signs represent reported rapes,
which are only 10 percent of all rapes
(1987 FBI statistics). This means that,
for the 141 rapes reported in Ann Ar-
bor last year, there were really about
1400 rapes committed. So about 1
woman in 35 is raped each year in this
town, usually by someone she knows.
In a survey done at the University of
California, over half of the male re-
spondents said it was all right for a
man to hold a woman down and force
her to engage in sexual intercourse, if.
she "gets him sexually excited," "has
led him on," or says yes and then
changes her mind. Over half also said
that they would rape a woman if they
knew they wouldn't be caught and
punished. Clearly, many men learn that
rape is OK.
Men get this twisted message in
many ways. They are raised to .see
power, including power over others, as
an important part of their manhood.
They've also been exposed, along with
women, to years of TV messages
which encourage violence (from the
Three Stooges and Popeye to Mr.T and
Miami Vice), show sexuality as a
power game between men and women
(from Three's Company to Dallas), and
trivialize women's concerns in myriad
ways (The Golden Girls). If they do
not learn a basic respect for women
elsewhere, they are prone to an attitude
which will allow them to rationalize
forcing a women to have sex.
Men must work against rape by
countering the myths and stereotypes
inherent in these media messages. They
can object to anti-woman jokes, and
remarks by friends which indicate a
disrespect for women. They can name
coercive sexual behavior for what it is.
It is rape or attempted rape. They can
also redefine the ideal of masculine
power in terms which respect all peo-
ple.
Women's socialization contributes to
their victimization by encouraging pas-
sivity and concern for others above
self. Although rape is never a women's
fault, women can protect themselves by
learning to be assertive. The effective-
ness of self-defense training is more in
the attitude changes it fosters than in
specific fighting skills.
Rape is an ugly part of the world,
and hard to face. But people must con-
sider its causes if they are to fight it.
The women who risked arrest to paint
the "A Woman Was Raped Here" signs
deserve our praise and support. The
University, by obliterating any of these
signs, contributes to denial and the
continued violence and fear of our
rape-accepting culture.
"" col~y&HR I.SCENCE, MR
4ioW CON WEt AFFORD IT ?
H1OLD WOVN10
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d' lux
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No to
nuclear
waste
To the Daily:
Is it because New Mexico is
the birthplace of the atomic
bomb that the state was chosen
to bury the nation's nuclear
bomb waste? Residents won-
der and watch as the ten-year-
old WIPP project near Carlsbad
prepares to receive mountains
of radioactive debris from ten
sites. Trucks are scheduled to
move plutonium 238 and a lot
of other dangerous materials
over Interstate highways thru
twenty-eight stats. Vehicles
plan to depart daily for at least
twenty-five years.
As yet no permanent nuclear
waste burial place exists any-
where on the earth. WIPP is
the first of its kind. The De-
partment of Energy has already
dug tunnels 2,150 feet into the
salt beds. But no shipments
can arrive until the land there is
withdrawn from public use by
Congress, Called to Land
Withdrawal bill, 1 this legisla-
tion gives away far more land
than is needed to handle exist-
ing bomb wastes.
Moreover, the project is not
safe. Saltwater in the under-
pen, but say th geology of the
area will prevent the plutonium
from spreading. Independent
research shows the site is full
of fractures and a body of
highly-pressurized water lies
just beneath the storage cham-
bers. Under these conditions it
is only a matter of time until
plutonium enters the drinking
water, finds its way to the
nearby Pecos River and flows
to the Gulf of Mexico.
Lobbying against WIPP has
begun. Letters are going to
House and Senate members
telling them to vote against the
Land Withdrawal bill. Con-
gressional field hearing are ur-
gently requested so that evi-
dence which shows how the
project is unsafe can be pre-
sented. Congressman Mike
Synar, 2441 Rayburn Building,
is receiving mail directing him
to bring his Subcommittee on
Energy and the Environment to
New Mexico.
Please join us. Write your
Congress members and Con-
gressman Synar about the Land
Withdrawal bill now. Let
them know that you, too,
refuse to allow the earth to be
poisoned because you value
your life and cherish your chil-
dren's future.
-Silvi Solomon
October 6
-- " , 7 "
agree with the opinions of
Michael Fischer in his review
of "the Last Temptation of
Christ"
Christianity is not a philo-
sophical collection of abstract
concepts but the belief in an
historical figure, his life, death,
and resurrection. This histori-
cal but controversial Jesus
Christ is not in the least bit
similar to Martin Scorceses'
"Jesus," except for those who
fail to understand the impor-
tance and message of Christ.
A Christian's faith is not in a
fictional storybook character
who guides our lives, because
this would be impossible and
foolish. Because of this fact,
Scorceses' "Jesus" has no merit
except as entertainment. It is
an easier and sweeter pill for us
to swallow than the call for
personal repentance and re-
demption that a Christian's Je-
sus offers. (Romans 1: 23)
It is because God became
man, not because of a man
who became God, that re-
demption is possible. It is be-
cause God became flesh (a
man), and was tempted like a
man, and yet set a moral ex-
ample that we can put our
confidence in him as our savior
for eternity. (Hebrews 2: 17,
4: 15) If Jesus was life us, and
entertained sin, then we cannot
rely on him to hep us becausel
he would be equally frail, and
in this way, the film betrays,
our greatest trust.
The grace which helps us to
obtain faith in the on perfect
man who walked the earth is
not 'earned through contem-
plation.' (Ephesians 2: 8, 9).
"We do not make friends with
God. God makes friends with
us, " J. I. Packer says in
Knowing God. How con we
humans, who consistently re-
sort to betrayal, bloodshed,
crime, and self-destruction find
God in our actions or contem-
plations? We cannot, and God
has found us in our need.
Now, I do realize that there
are those who believe in the
"inherent" goodness of man,
and would reject my view.
However, I offer them as one
who opposes the movie and
accepts the basic doctrines of
Christianity. If someone is
actively searching for Jesus
Christ, and a Jesus who stands
tall above human frailty and
evil, he or she would be better
off to look in the Bible and
personal prayer, then to seek
the chracter of Scorceses' fic-
tional, character "Jesus."
-Glenn Moots
September 27
ge letter policy
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