The Michigan Daily -Thursday, March 1, 1990 - Page 3
Faculty members speak
on 'U,
by Michael Sullivan
Daily Staff Writer
, Central America
The University must recognize it
is part of a foreign policy machine
abusing human rights in Central
America, said three members of a
faculty group pushing for social
change.
Biology Professor John Van-
dermeer, Guild House co-director
Dan Coleman, and Residential Col-
lege lecturer Cecilia Green-Gosa, all
members of Concerned Faculty,
spoke about the University's rela-
tionship with Central America last
night in the Union's Kuenzel Room.
Coleman talked about El Sal-
vador and what University students
can do to help citizens in what he
considers a military state.
"Those of us in the University
are not part of a neutral institution,"
Coleman said. "Think about who is
accepted and where funding comes
from. I believe it is not accidental, it
is only people from the First and
Second Worlds that are here."
Students should pressure the
University to accept more students
from Third World countries and in-
stitute exchange programs with these
countries, he said. "It is important
for students to go to El Salvador and
meet other students - and come
back and tell us what is going on,"
he added.
Vandermeer said he has advised
the Nicaraguan government on vari-
ous environmental issues for the last
ten years and he "still has strong
Spersonal ties to the Sandinistas and
their principles." He attributed the
Sandinista's recent electoral defeat to
"ten years of one of the U.S.'s most
despicable actions - the Contra
war."
"The real question," he said, "is
'where was the University all this
time?' Except for extra-University
groups, the University didn't have
anything to say."
"The Nicaraguan people re-
sponded to the concrete conditions-in
their country - war and miserabic
economic conditions," Vandermeer
said.
Nicaraguan voters were also in-
fluenced by "thinly-veiled threats"
from the Bush administration that
the war would continue if the San-
dinistas won the elections, Vander-
meer said.
Green-Grosa said the University
must examine the way the media
presents events in Central America,
particularly the recent U.S. invasion
of Panama.
"The people are not to blame" for
supporting the invasion, she said.
"We should blame the way the in-
formation they are given is played."
The media "convinces the Ameri-
can people they're well-being rests
in controlling these Third World
countries," Green-Grosa said. "They
promote the idea that these Third
World countries cannot govern them-
selves."
Call for resignation
Members of the Guardian Angels, an anti-crime-patrol group, carry signs calling for D.C. Mayor Marion Barry's
resignation, outside the U.S. District Court in Washington yesterday. Barry pleaded innocent to cocaine pos-
session and perjury charges filed after a 14-month investigation of his ties to a convicted drug dealer.
Forum held on 'U'
internationalization
Panelists explore
personal difficulties
in 'coming out'
by Gil Renberg
Daily Staff Writer
In order to become "diverse" the
University must increase the enroll-
ment of foreign students, especially
those from non-European countries,
said panelists at the forum
"Internationalization of the Univer-
sity: Promise and Problems," yester-
day.
A group of approximately 50
professors and administrators at-
tended the forum to discuss the im-
portance of foreign students at the
University and the need for the Uni-
versity to distance itself from a Eu-
ropean-centered curriculum.
The forum was sponsored by the
Conference on Teaching, Ethics, and
Values (CTEV). CTEV is a group of
faculty, administrators and commu-
nity members who meet to discuss
issues pertinent to teaching, ethics
and values at University.
Although the conference was
open to the public, no students at-
tended.
Maine Jackson, an Associate Pro-
fessor of Art, stressed the importance
of communication between those
with different viewpoints. "The bar-
riers that divide us... are barriers of
understanding (and) trust," she said.
Jackson called for the University
to hire professors who have split off
from the mainstream and hold very
different views from their colleagues.
By bringing them in, their diverse
views could be heard and would in-
troduce professors and students to
"different possible ways of thinking"
which would "ultimately... change
the nature of the University," she
said.
Assistant History Professor Juan
Cole, an expert on the Islamic
world, pointed out that the American
education system omits many im-
portant events that had little influ-
ence on American history.
"I think our conception of history
often has tried to establish a timeline
leading to ourselves," he said.
Prof. Cole also said that the fail-
ure of American students to become
fluent in foreign tongues "puts us
increasingly in a disadvantaged posi-
tion for competition in the world."
The final speaker was Leslie
Olsen, Director of the Technological
Communications Program in the
Engineering College. She pointed
out that the large number of foreign
students can provide American stu-
dents at the University with valuable
insight into international issues.
Olsen warned that few foreign
students at the University come from
underdeveloped countries, and this
must be changed, she said.
by Geri Alumit
In 1986, within a six month
span, Shirley received a divorce, re-
tired from his job, started college,
and obtained a sex change operation.
"Because I was socialized as a
male it was very difficult to have a
relationship with a man," said
Shirley. "My wife and three kids
chose to leave me because of my de-
cision but out of it all I can say that
I am a more confident individual."
Personal accounts such as
Shirley's began an informal discus-
sion yesterday, sponsored by the So-
ciology Department. A transvestite,
a transexual, a gay man, and a les-
bian, gathered to discuss their gender
identity and sexual orientation at the
forum.
The public event was the first of
its kind on campus, said sociology
professor Luis Sfeir-Younis.
"I want this to be an informal
conversation between and among
people of different lifestyles - so
that by learning from the experiences
of others, we may enrich our own,"
said Sfeir-Younis.
The presentation sprung from an
overwhelming interest in his
"Person in Society" class that pre-
sented an aspect of transexuality.
The panelists were asked about
how they and their families handled
their identities.
"My mother blames the Univer-
sity of Michigan for my gayness...I
felt a lot of anger and confusion
when I was going through my
'coming out'. If someone asked me
if I was a male or female I would re-
spond the third, neuter," said LSA
senior Jim Bott, a gay male.
Sociology teaching assistant
Tracy Ore, continued the discussion
of gender roles. "My mother always
objectified me as a person in relation
to a man, and all I wanted was to be
seen as a person in relation to my-
self."
Ore said she had to withdraw her-
self from the pressures of her church
and family to find a more secure en-
vironment for her sexual orientation.
The issue of transvestite behavior
was also addressed.
As a nine year old, "Melissa'"
first discovered his attraction 'to
women's clothes. He started buying
clothes and was severly beaten by
his father upon discovery. Periods of
denial bombarded him throughout
adulthood.
"I could not tell my wife that I
was a transvestite for fear that she
would not want to marry me," said
Melissa. It was not until 15 years in
to the marriage that his wife discov-
ered his secret behavior. It was not
until he discovered a group of cross-
dressers that he accepted that he was
not deviant.
There is often confusion about
sexual identity. "Sexual identity lies
in our mind, not in our genitals, and
that is why some people can not un-
derstand," said Shirley. "When peo-
ple think of lesbian they usually
equate it with sex, and if you ask me
it isn't the biggest part of my rela-
tionship with my lover," said Ore.
Bott concluded the discussion ly
asking his fellow panelists, "What
would you change if you could?"
"When we were little we could
buy a small crayola box, and then
we get older and we can afford to buy
bigger boxes but we don't. I wish
each of us could cherish the diffq-
ences in the variety of people suir-
rounding us," Melissa answered.
SAY IT INTHE...
DAILY
CLASSIFIEDS
THE LIST
What's happening in Ann Arbor today
r .r -r""i
It's a big one .A ht
A Soviet weekender reels back his catch after having drilled a hole in the
iced surface of the Neva Delta in Leningrad on the gulf of Finland.
State Senate puts off
Detroit fiscal bill
Meetings
Socially Active Latino Student
Association - 7:30 p.m. in
Angell Hall Rm. 221
Earth Day Organizing Com-
mittee - meeting at 7 p.m. in
Room 1040 Dana Bldg.
Michigan Video Yearbook ---
meeting at 7 p.m. on the fourth
floor of the Union
Amnesty International --- cam-
pus group meeting 6 p.m. MLB
2012
UM Cycling --- team meeting and
rollers riding 6 p.m. in the Sports
Coliseum
Rainforest Action Movemnet -
-- meeting and speaker from the
Environmental Law Society at 7
p.m in the Union Wolverine
Rooms A, B & C
Michigan Wargaming Club ---
mass meeting at 9 p.m. in the
Union Kuenzel Room
Speakers
"Potluck and Conclusions" --
- part of the Global Friendship
and Dating Series a brown bag
discussion at noon in the
International Center
"The Dawn of Darwinian
Medicine" -- George Williams
and Randolph Nesse speak at 4
p.m.in the E. Lecture Room, 3rd
Floor of Rackham
"Fast Ionic Conduction in
Solid Electrolytes" --- Scott
Sibley speaks at 4 p.m. in 1640
"Upheaval in the East:
Revolution in the USSR and
East-central Europe" ---
Center for REES faculty speak at
a public briefing from2-5 p.m. in
the Rackham Amphitheatre
"A Discussion of Japan's Role
in the International Age" --- a
forum from noon-1:30 p.m. in
Room 2233 of the School of
Education Bldg.
"The Trial of Hashimoto
Sanai" --- George M. Wilson
speaks at noon in the Lane Hall
Commons Room
Furthermore
Women's Club Lacrosse -
practice 4-6 p.m. in the Coliseum
(5th and Hill)
Northwalk --- the north campus
night time walking service runs
from 8 p.m.-1:30 a.m. in Bursley
2333 or call 763-WALK
Safewalk --- the night time safety
walking service runs from 8
p.m.-1:30 a.m. in UGLi 102 or
call 936-1000
ECB Peer Writing Tutors -
peer writing tutors available for
help on papers 7-11 p.m. in the
Angell/Haven and 611 Church
St. computing centers
Free Tutoring --- for all lower
level science and engineering
classes 8-10 p.m. in UGLi Room
307
Voter Registration Party---
LANSING (AP) - Given an-
other month to solve Detroit's fiscal
crisis, a Senate committee delayed
yesterday action on a bill to reinstate
a utility tax and save the city from
possible bankruptcy.
The Senate Finance Committee
amended, but refused to advance, a
bill to continue the tax. The action
came the day after a Wayne County
circuit judge gave lawmakers a
month to act.
"I want the best bill we can get
on continuing the tax," said commit-
tee Chair Norman Shinkle (R-
Lambertville).
"We've got another month. I
don't predict a quick resolution be-
cause the pressure to come to a quick
settlement has been relieved."
Majority Republicans nixed a
Democratic attempt to send the full
Senate a bill to continue the tax.
The House already has passed such a
bill.
"I don't think it's ready," Shinkle
said, adding it needs more work.
Shipwrecked?
Read Gillagain
by Mike G'l.
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