100%

Scanned image of the page. Keyboard directions: use + to zoom in, - to zoom out, arrow keys to pan inside the viewer.

Page Options

Download this Issue

Share

Something wrong?

Something wrong with this page? Report problem.

Rights / Permissions

This collection, digitized in collaboration with the Michigan Daily and the Board for Student Publications, contains materials that are protected by copyright law. Access to these materials is provided for non-profit educational and research purposes. If you use an item from this collection, it is your responsibility to consider the work's copyright status and obtain any required permission.

January 16, 1990 - Image 3

Resource type:
Text
Publication:
The Michigan Daily, 1990-01-16

Disclaimer: Computer generated plain text may have errors. Read more about this.

2,400 see
Lee's
right
thing'
by Ian Hoffman
Daily Staff Writer
It's never easy to do the right
thing.
Especially when you don't know
what it is.
Over 2,400 students and Ann
Arbor residents -who saw Spike
Lee's movie Do the Right Thing got
a chance to form their own opinion
about what constitutes the right
thing yesterday. The two free after-
noon showings at the Michigan
Theater, sponsored by the Institute
for Social Research (ISR), were part
of the University's Dr. Martin
Luther King, Jr. Symposium.
"Our amain goal is to promote
more intimate communication be-
tween racial groups at the Univer-
sity," said Bob Zajonc, director of
the ISR and professor of social
sciences. Before attending the
movie, all participants were
supposed to attend an orientation
session where they were given a
partner of a different racial
background. Partners were asked to
watch the film together so that+
afterwards they could discuss their
feelings about the film.
"It was pretty intense," said
Rachel Krinsky, a Residential Col-+
lege senior. "We spend a lot of time
asking questions on this campus
but this film makes us ask
questions we normally wouldn't. It
moves us to a different level."

The Michigan Daily - Tuesday, January 16, 1990 - Page 3
Closing MLK

Day speaker
doesn't shov

V

by Mark Katz
Daily Minority Issues Reporter
A delayed flight caused Rev. Dr.
Joseph Lowery to miss his scheduled
closing address for Dr. Martin Luther
King, Jr. Day last night at Hill Au-
ditorium.
Instead, an extended performance
from violinist Darwyn Apple and
words from Vice Provost for Minor-
ity Affairs Charles Moody and other
MLK Day planners filled out the
closing program.
Lowery, the president and co-
founder of the Southern Christian
Leadership Conference, experienced
delays flying to Detroit from Wash-
ington, D.C. Because of previous
engagements in Atlanta today, his
speech could not.be postponed.
Apple, a Michigan graduate and a
member of the St. Louis Sym-
phony, began the closing address
with a 35-minute performance, ex-
tending his original program.
Upon hearing of Lowery's delay,
Moody urged the audience to "bear
with us, and remember what the day
is all about." He shared some of his
personal experiences, honored King,
and urged people to get involved.
"We have to make people believe
that this University is great because
of its diversity, not in spite of his
diversity," he said.
On behalf of the Office of Minor-
ity Affairs, Moody presented former
Ann Arbor mayor Albert Wheeler
with a "Dreamkeeper Award" in
honor of "lifelong work in the area

of civil rights."
Wheeler received the award by
making an unplanned speech in
which he commended and urged the
progress of President James Duder-
stadt's Michigan Mandate and called
for increased awareness of the under-
class' plight.
"We have made substantial
progress, but much of it is numbers,
not in quality," he said.

JOSE JUAtLJa!iy
Elizabeth Patterson, a mechanical engineering senior, and Steve Grant, also a mechanical engineering senior,
discuss "Do the Right Thing" in a' group discussion.

"I know it's cliche, but it was
'eye-opening"', said Krinsky's part-
ner Jud Cervenak, a first-year Archi-
tecture and Urban Planning student.
"It supported my beliefs and made a.
lot of sense to me."
Do the Right Thing is the story
of one very hot day in the Bedford-
Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn.
Racial tensions slowly build
throughout the day and finally
explode in a riot destroying a
pizzeria owned by an Italian family.
The strangling of a Black resident
by a white police officer finally
incites the riot.
The film ends with two quotes,

one by Martin Luther King, Jr.
condemning violence, and another
by Malcom X condoning it.
"Both quotes are true, and both
are fitting the theme of conflict in
that they conflict themselves," said
Landon Pate, a first-year Business
Schoo! student.
"Both quotes were eloquent, but
King's was far more wise and elo-
quent," said Joe Heininger,
Assistant Professor of English. "I
think what we are supposed to do is
take King's quote for it's value and
wisdom, but see and understand the
context of Malcom X's quote and
know where the anger comes from."

And what is the right thing?
"I think I know what the right
thing is for myself, but I can't put
it into words," said Pate.
Though the ISR stressed the
showing was in no way a research
project, participants were
encouraged to record their thoughts
about Lee's work for a
publication,Writing About the Right
Things.
Hank Heitowit, a staff member
at ISR, said they hope Spike Lee
will participate this spring on a
three-member panel discussion,
which will also include a Black
scholar and a movie critic.

Moody

Finally, the Office of Minority
Affairs presented MLK Day orga-
nizer Andrea Monroe-Fowler with a
framed picture and quote of King in
honor of her work in organizing the
day.

MLK panelists debate: Can
'U' teach students tolerance?

-, . -

by Donna Woodwell
Daily Faculty Reporter
Although last April the faculty
council voted against a mandatory
course on racism for LSA students,
the University's role in the instruc-
.ion of .tolerance is far from a dead
issue.
The question "Can the University
teach students to be more tolerant?"
was brought up again yesterday, this
time at a Center for Judaic Studies
panel attended by 70 students and
several faculty members as part of
the University's Dr. Martin Luther
King Jr., Day Symposium.
LSA Assistant Dean David
Schoem commented on the difficulty
of deciding whether the University
can teach students to be more toler-
ant. If the University teaches toler-
ance, it could be misconstrued as
brainwashing, but if the University
doesn't, it could be attributed to
prejudice, he said.
"So in my opinion, the answer is
yes and no," said Schoem. Through
the use of class discussions, Schoem
said he hopes students can "move
beyond a denial of having prejudices
and realize that there are perspectives
other than one's own." He -said
though that "even four months of in-
tense discussion is just a begin-
ning."

I

... .

~~A clA
PASS
IT

f

-FM

Judaic Studies and English Prof.
Anita Norich said "the University is
not the site in which tolerance can
be taught in any culture," but she
added "we have the obligation to try
anyway."
Biblical Studies Prof. Peter Ma-
chinist described tolerance "as an at-
tempt to understand the other on his
or her own terms." He likened this
process to a "leap of the imagina-
tion" in which one can stretch one's
understanding to include the other's
viewpoint, but said "there is no way
to fully get out of one's own skin
into that of another."
During the question and answer
period, panelists debated whether
students should be required to take a
course aimed at increasing levels of
student tolerance.
"The university shouldn't encour-
age going through life sleepwalk-
ing," Machinist said. "The unexam-
ined life isn't worth living." Ma-
chinist said he had reservations about
mandating a course because tolerance
is an issue which encompasses more
than just a single course.
"I no longer believe that I teach
innocently," Norich said. "All stu-
dents come with certain cultural
baggage - what I am trying to do is
expand that baggage." Thus, Norich

said she supports incorporating the
issue of tolerance across the curricu-
lum.
Schoem said a required course on
tolerance could change what he
termed the "only what concerns me"
attitude held by many students.
But Judaic Studies Director Todd
Endelman, who moderated the panel,
reminded that it is "not just a Uni-
versity responsibility" to teach toler-
ance. "These courses are available,
and students themselves should be
aware that it is essential that you
know how to deal with different cul-
tures and with different back-
grounds," he said.
PASS
IT
AROUND I
Share the
news,
Ja.

I

AROUND!

LI

U

i'

..4~ .. I L ..LMJ J 1M .

WAO - V ase AISA04M -w. ~

m'

= I

7I

Ti

ANN ARBOR'S PRIME

7 1 T1 I IIZUM' .E

PROP1'1 IES
The Abby -The Algonuquin -The Dean -7'e 7& -'-h I Ion -The Lodge-
3mA1 D -515 E. Lawrence -"326 E . Madi son *OCad An (yf-'
520 Packard - Arbor Forest - Oak Terrace "-517 Catherine- - a,'cfr Ts--s""415 Hoover -
511 Hoover -11 Kingssy -727 S. Forest
fow leasing for Fall 1990 - Call 761-8000
Prime Student Housing, Inc.
610 Church Street

a

I

I

I . ~st~'ss~v1Qs~aaQ5I

."' T ... ... r r ... }r .3r i' T )i " ! (. ?r rr"r 1, i )t 3r ' r fit.' F.. 1.. t ! n !
+ I .I. :'.v i "1 1 I 1 1 - 1 f X11! 1 ilti a i " n 1 " n r irr/1 a ! " i

CORRECTIONS

-t41990

11

LSA junior Teresa Raymond was not involved in the organization of the
Student Book Exchange two years ago.
Senior Jeff Ehrlich is the Vice-President of LSA-SG. Furthermore, the
LSA-SG will be meeting Tuesday to announce its appointments for the
vacant MSA seats. The seminar: "Uses of Polymerase: Chain Reaction in
Studying Viral Diseases" is scheduled for 3p.m. Tuesday at 6423 Med Sci I.
This information was incorrectly reported in yesterday's paper.
THE LIST
What's happening in Ann Arbor today

(I

Meetings
Ann Arbor Committee to
Defend Abortion Rights -
Mass meeting at 5:30 in the
Union Ballroom
Society of Minority
Engineering Students -
Membership meeting from 6:30-
8:30 in 1200 EECS; panel
discussion on summer internships
Speakers
Art exhibit opening lectures'-

Gordon D. Linsey, one of the
featured artists; both lectures at 4
p.m. in the Rackham
Amphitheater; reception follows
Furthermore
Art Exhibit - an exhibition of
twelfth-century medieval
illustrations depicting the
Arthurian epic Iwe in,
contemporary watercolors, and
other art work are on display in
Rackham's West Gallery
Palaver - The Women's Studies

- *
400

a
a
u
^..
r H
N
.
u
4'

Back to Top

© 2024 Regents of the University of Michigan