The Michigan Daily - Monday, November 6, 1989 - Page 5 'U' hosts conference discussing 'Beijing spring, by Daniel Poux Daily Staff Writer It has been more than six months since7 the massacre of Chinese students in Tianan- men Square, enough time for academics to study the causes behind the uprising and the consequences for the students and the Chi- nese government. In an effort to explain the events of last June, Chinese experts from around the coun- try gathered at Hale Auditorium last Thurs- day and Friday for "The Beijing Spring and Its Repercussions," a conference chaired by Kenneth Lieberthal, director of the Univer- 1 sity's Center for Chinese Studies. Tufts University Law and Diplomacy Prof. David Zweig, who earned his Ph.D. from the University of Michigan, spoke as part of the conference's afternoon panel. Zweig examined the student uprising from a systemic perspective, and questioned whether the events of last June could be called a "revolution." 'One question we have to ask ourselves," Zweig said, "is, 'To what extent could the student movement overthrow the existing structure?"' While the students had the rest of the world on their side, Zweig said, they never really had a chance. The professor went on to analyze the con- flict from what he called the "Negotiations and Missed Opportunities" perspective. He questioned the early moves by both the stu- dent leaders and the involved officials, to see if another course of action could have averted the senseless slaughter. With both sides dug in firmly behind their demands, there was little opportunity for compromise, Zweig said, and with the lack of concrete communication lines, the conflict would have inevitably ended in vio- lence. "While the student leaders were looking to other reform movements in East Germany and Hungary, the Chinese government was looking to Poland (with the Solidarity Party's government takeover), and was not going to back down," he said. The conference began Thursday night with a keynote speech from Roderick Mac- Farquar, director of East Asian Studies at Harvard University. Friday's agenda con- sisted of two academic panels focusing on the domestic ramifications of the incident in China. The morning panel featured University of California-San Diego Prof. Susan Shirk and University of Oregon History Prof. Joseph Escherick on the long-term effects of the student revolution. Escherick attempted to trace back domes- tic trends, to explain the student uprising and the resulting government crackdown. The afternoon panel focused on the dy- massacre namics of the Beijing crisis and featured Su Shaozhi, a Marquette University visiting professor and former director of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences Institute of Marxism, Leninism, and Mao Zedong Thought. Su explained that the Chinese govern- ment structure is heavily influenced by rem- nants of Stalinism and China's despotic roots. "Everyone has their own individual organizational rank," Su said. "As a result, government officials are responsible only to their superiors, and not to their people." It is this lack of representation that led to the rise of the student democracy movement, Su said. SWASTIKA Continued from Page 1 Ann Arbor Police Lt. Craig Rod- erick refused to comment on any of the officers' comments, adding that "you are not going to talk to those officers about that." LSA junior and SAM member Howard Krugel, whose car was also defaced with swastikas, said he thought the vandalism was commit- ted between 2:00 and 4:00 a.m. on Friday. "I parked my car at 2:00 and then came out at 4:00 and saw them painted on my windows," Krugel said. "They were still a little wet but -weren't coming off." Krugel added that he thought the police, with whom he also filed a report on Friday, handled the incident vell. LSA senior Chris Mongeluzo, also a member of the fraternity, said a similar incident took place in the fall of 1987, when a swastika was painted on the side of his fraternity house., State trust offers solution for future higher ed. costs One of two cars painted with swastikas outside the Sigma Alpha Mu fraternity house Friday morning. Tutors supply help for late-night papers by Daniel Poux Daily Staff writer Every year, more and more fami- lies are finding it impossible to send their kids to colleges and universities around the country. As a result, the Michigan Educa- tion Trust, established last year, is one of several new programs that have been created to help make a col- lege education affordable. The trust was created in 1987 by Michigan Gov. James Blanchard in an effort to reduce the rising costs of state colleges. The program allows Michigan families to make pay- ments into a fund guaranteeing that tuition and fees will be paid when their children are ready to go to col- lege. Last year, 40,409 families were enrolled in the trust. "This year's application period should be very ex- citing," State Treasurer Robert Bowman said. "Last year's enroll- ment numbers exceeded our greatest expectations. MET is the best in- vestment parents and grandparents can make in their child's educational future." Eighty-eight of the trust students have enrolled in 18 different Michi- gan schools, including the Univer- sity of Michigan. "This is the real payoff for MET," Bowman said. "Our MET fall class of 1989 has 88 students in school, and their parents don't have to worry about college tu- ition costs increasing every year be- cause tuition is guaranteed and will be paid by MET." Michigan was the first state to adopt a trust-style program. How- ever, nine other states have estab- lished similar programs and at least 40 other states have similar trust funds in the works. While the largest group of trust families had annual incomes between $40,000 and $60,000, one-third of the families earned less than $40,000 per year and almost 20 percent had incomes under $20,000. "The numbers show that middle income Michigan residents were the largest group to take advantage of MET, which was exactly what we expected," Bowman said. He empha- sized that he was "encouraged by the large number of lower income fami- lies who feel that their children's college education is a priority and thus signed up for MET." John Matlock, the University's director of minority affairs, expressed enthusiasm at the level of low-in- come participation, and hoped the trust program would help boost fu- ture minority enrollment. "More and more, access to educa- tion is becoming a cost factor, and low income families are being denied access to higher education," he said. Matlock stressed, however, that the MET program was "far from a cure-all to the problems of education accessibility," and said further action from the University and the state and federal governments will be critical. by Cherie Curry It's late at night in the Computing Center. You're racing against the clock, agonizing in front of a Macintosh to produce a competent pa- per due the next day. In your rush, proper gram- mar and organization go out the window. Just get the paper done, you think. But thanks to the English Composition Board Peer Writing tutors, it doesn't have to be this way. The tutors work to assist undergraduates with their writing difficulties. They help students with such tasks as interpreting an assignment, struc- turing their paper in an organized fashion, and us- ing proper grammar. Don't think, however, that these peer tutors will wait conveniently by the computer to dish out all the answers. Their work entails teaching students how to edit and improve their writing - not doing it for them. The tutors teach students to be critical of their own writing. Every Sunday through Thursday night, the tutors offer free services at two University com- puting sites - 611 Church and Angell Hall. They also set up individual appointments. Though the tutors receive no pay for their services, LSA senior Brett Stephenson said the work is rewarding enough. "I enjoy being able to help students organize their thoughts on paper," he said. "There's a sense of accomplishment when you can help someone produce a really good paper." The program began three years ago by English Lecturer Phyllis Lassner, who currently heads the program. It now includes 12 tutors and supplements the writing help offered at the ECB Writing Workshop. 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