£digrnlai4 Vol. Cl, No. 25 Bush may *support tax on wealthy WASHINGTON (AP) - Presi- ent Bush suggested for the first me yesterday that he would accept higher income taxes on the wealthy "at some level" as part of a $500 bil- lion, five-year deficit reduction com- promise. Bush voiced a new readiness to bargain with Congressional Democrats on the long-divisive tax issue after signing a temporary spending bill that ended a three-day government shutdown. Although he declined to discuss details, Bush clearly indicated he could support a compromise cou- pling higher taxes on the wealthiest Americans in exchange for the cut in capital-gains tax +rates that he has See BUSH, Page 2 Ann Arbor, Michigan -Wednesday, October 10, 1990 T,,",7hat10 x Debate over diversity classes shifts to students by Shalini Patel Daily Staff Reporter The controversy generated from a three-year debate about a proposed mandatory class on diversity is not likely to subside with the require- ment's passage. The requirement has encountered both kudos and criticism from Uni- versity students since its approval by the LSA General Assembly on Monday. With a vote of 139-90, the assembly passed the requirement which will go into effect for first- year students in 1991. Students will be able to choose from a number of courses that address racism and eth- nic intolerance. "I think it's great because a lot of people would ignore a lot of issues otherwise," said LSA senior Nicole Susser. She referred to the narrow- mindedness of some students as a. reason for the class. "It would get people to confront issues they wouldn't ordinarily." Part of the criticism of the mandatory diversity class stems from what some students say is the elimi- nation of choice. "People should choose," said Chad Reidler, a first-year LSA stu- dent. Reidler added that since Univer- sity students deal with a diversity of ethnic and racial groups everywhere on campus, such a class is unneces- sary. While the Michigan Student Assembly (MSA) does not have an official stand on the diversity re- See DIVERSITY, Page 2 .sSANTHONY M. UMULUally Theresa Lukenas of Channel 2 asks LSA sophomore Andrew Sale, "Should a racism class be mandatory?" Sale said that the class would be a step in the right direction, but he's not sure that it should be required. .English department approves requirement changes 44 to 1 by Amy Quick The Department of English Lan- guage and Literature approved a pro- posal October 1 which would change the requirements for English majors if the College Curriculum Commit- tee passes it. The English Department ap- . roved the proposal with a 44-1 ote, after three to four years of dis- cussion, said English Department Chair Dr. Robert Weisbuch.; "(The revised requirements) will reflect the change in discipline in the field of English over the last 20 years," said Weisbuch. Under the proposal, concentrators would not be required to take the three core classes or the Senior Sem- 'nar. Instead, they would take one class in literature before 1600, two classes in literature before 1830, an American Literature class, and a New Traditions course. Another prerequisite, English 239 Approaches to Literature, would also be added to the existing English 240 Poetry prerequisite. "The class will give a sense of the questions that lit- erary scholars ask on their way into the major instead of at the end of the concentration," said Weisbuch. Senior Seminar courses also will no longer be required. However they will still be available to students, said Weisbuch. Weisbuch said that if the pro- posal passes, it would cause no problems for current majors. Core I (English 355) would count toward the pre-1600 require- ment, and Cores II and III (English 356 and 357) when combined with the existing pre-1800 requirement would fulfill the two new pre-1830 requirements. The newly-revised courses are not the same as the current course re- quirements, but the broadly histori- cal Core courses which have existed since the mid 70s will still be of- fered, said Weisbuch. The change would give students a much broader range of elective courses, so that students would have the option to take a class that con- centrates on one specific work or take the survey Core I class which covers literature from the same pe- riod. Weisbuch said that the old sys- tem has worked "wonderfully." The number of English concentrators jumped from 300 in 1980 to its cur- rent 911. However, Weisbuch said that the department had a sense that thought this would wake everyone up in a nice way. It's always good to change the curriculum once in - a while to keep it fresh," said Weis- buch. English concentrators had mixed 'Cores I and Ill were getting stale for students and teachers. We thought this would wake everyone up in a nice way. It's always good to change the curriculum once in a while to keep it fresh.' -Dr. Robert Weisbuch, Chair of English Dept. it was time for a change. "Cores II and III were getting stale for students and teachers. We reactions to the news of the possible change. LSA Junior Leslie Kollin said New 'U' provost settles into post by Beth Halverson the office filled by an interregnum In July, after only 18 months as he University's provost, Charles est accepted a job as President of Massachusetts Institute of Technol- ogy (MIT), leaving the position empty. The Board of Regents quickly appointed a new provost, Gilbert Whitaker, who assumed the position on Sept. 1. As provost Whitaker is the Uni- versity's Chief Budgetary and Aca- demic Officer. This involves over- seeing the seventeen deans of the University's schools and colleges, the associate vice-presidents, and the vice-provosts. The quickness with which the re- gents acted in choosing a successor was unusual. "Normally the search for a provost can take six to eight months," said Whitaker, "but this time the president simply went back to the files of its previous provost search (18 months ago) and looked at the old candidates. This was to speed up the process and to avoid having provost. I just happened to be one of those candidates," he said. the core classes were positive be- cause they forced her to become ex- posed to authors and works that she would not have read otherwise,btit she's not sure that the new require- ments are a good move. "The core classes had huge peri- ods crammed into a class, but I'm afraid (under the proposal) there may be more gaps," said Kollin. LSA junior Wendy Walters said the proposed changes are great. "The core courses covered too much and I like the idea of letting teachers teach what they want and let students take what they want," she said. She also liked the addition of the American Literature requirement, saying, "I mean, how many of us can relate to Chaucer?" Saddam says Iraq has new missile; by The Associated Press Saddam Hussein announced yes- terday that Iraq had added another missile to its arsenal, and he said it could be launched "against the tar- gets of evil when the day of reckon- ing comes." He made it clear he was referring to Israel and the U.S.-led forces massed in Saudi Arabia to deter fur- ther Iraqi aggression following the invasion of Kuwait. Iraq has other missiles that can travel hundreds of miles and it was not clear what the significance of a new one would be. Saddam appeared to use the occa- sion to try to exploit the deaths Monday of 19 Palestinians in Jerusalem to whip up support for his seizure of Kuwait. U.S. armed forces took to the airwaves yesterday with live broad- casts, and rock 'n' roll blared across the Saudi desert. The first song on Desert Shield Network FM 107 brought the troops a little closer to home - The Clash's "Rock the Casbah" about a' fight over "boogie sound" in a tradi- tional Middle Eastern city. The Pentagon said the Navy con-E tinued to search for eight Marines whose two helicopters disappeared: Monday over the North Arabian Sea during a training exercise. Rescue teams located debris from one of the aircraft on Monday, but no bodies. In other developments: A U.S. Embassy official in Baghdad said that a U.S.-chartered Whitaker Since becoming provost, Whitaker's first priority has been to learn more about the job. "Trying to learn the job comes first on my agenda this year," said Whitaker. "I am here to help the University's fac- See PROVOST, Page 2 Dave Noles, a driver of Michigan's winning solar car in the first-ever GM Sunrayce USA, addresses a group of prospective members for next year's race. Noles anxiously awaits November's World Solar Challenge in Australia where he will again drive the Sunrunner. . Daily alleges BSP secretary broke '' rules by David Schwartz Daily Opinion Editor Documents received yesterday by the Daily indicate that the secretary to the University's Board for Student Publica- tions has committed at least two violations of University policy. Members of the Board, who were assembled last night for their monthly meeting, refused to listen to evidence of the alleged wrongdoing. WvA-r. nthi1;n -,h- n ae n mnlnveti by the Rnard Daily debate moves & *' \behind closed doors by Sarah Schweitzer Daily Staff Reporter The Board for Student Publica- tions turned its public meeting yes- terday into a closed executive ses- sion, forcing 25 Daily staffers who had come to air their grievances re- garding Board Secretary Nancy Mc- Glothlin to leave. Daily editors and staff have been angered by McGlothlin's recent han- dling of various Daily policies, par- ticularly those regarding deadlines. A fr.- na~r A:+~.rial ,acnm - n+ 17 tioned, the meeting would be closed for an executive session. Rosenthal cited a letter from a University attor- ney which said closing a meeting to hear grievances about personnel is typical University policy. . Finkel protested, saying Daily staffers should have the right to air their concerns before the Board, and that the people most qualified to do so were other Daily editors who had researched various complaints. One area Finkel did not explicitly refer to was McGlothlin's use of University