Page 4-The Michigan Daily- Tuesday, April 21,1992 Sh Icta Batl Editor in Chief MATTHEW D. RENNIE 420 Maynard Street Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109 764-0550 Opinion Editors YAEL CITRO GEOFFREY EARLE AMITAVA MAZUMDAR Edited and Managed by Students at the University of Michigan 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. FROM THE DAILY ?'MrAN KS Fa 4Z C9"-rt N - ,- a AAy JOeSOP - .- ' "it L \%'R , c. f M ot1 , ,} Gap j Di 1Nt yM 4- YEARS. l _ - ((rte--- 5M H. Z T-O t ?o A toIc " y- I ''- Students need to vote absentee The local redistricting plan handed down last month, in addition to the vacancy created by the departure of State Rep. Perry Bullard from the State House, make for an exciting election this November. Unfortunately, anAugust primary elec- tion date coupled with the fact that the Democrats have a virtual lock on the election in a few districts may leave students - many of whom go home for the summer - locked out of the democratic pro- cess. The best way for students to combat this situation and maintain a say in state politics is to apply for an absenteeballotbefore they say goodbye to Ann Arbor for the summer. The problem is not a new one. During the August 1990 primaries, Michigan residents filed less than 400 absentee ballots. Of these, most go to senior citizens, who are automatically qualified to receive absentee ballots, even if they remain in town. According to the Ann Arbor City Clerk's office, traditionally, few of these ballots are for students. Many students are not even registered to vote in Ann Arbor to begin with. But for those who are registered, this year's election deserves their attention. Perry Bullard's decision to vacate his seat in the State House to run for a city judgeship has significantly changed the state's political landscape. The newly created 52nd state district, which includes North Campus resi- dents, has already attracted a field of political neophytes. If students vote, they may be able to impact this election. Thre 53rd district, however, is more solidly Democratic. This only augments the importance of the August primary; since a majority of the resi- dents of this district, which contains all central campus residents, are registered Democrats, this primary will likely decide the outcome of the general election. Moreover, Bullard, who currently holds the 53rd seat, has been as strong voice for student concerns. The district remains vital to student interests. Many other elections are at stake as well. Washtenaw County has been divided into two Congressional districts. With the retirement of 20- year incumbent Carl Pursell (R-Plymouth), stu- dents will finally have the opportunity to elect a representative more attentive to their concerns. In addition, county commission seats and county and state judgeships are up for election. Already this term, county courts have ruled on such student- related issues as the University's Diag policy, city noise violations, and city zoning ordinances re- garding Greek housing. These elections deserve student input as well. To request an absentee ballot application, write the City Clerk's Office at P.O. Box 8647, Ann Arbor, MI, 48107. Registering to vote in this critical election will insure that students will retain there voice in local politics, even if they go home for the summer. y~rTVTE~T~ c~1 : Sexism plagues math, science depts. A study conducted by the Center for the Educa- tion of Women at the University of Michigan recently found that women are not pursuing post- graduate mathematics and physics degrees in the same numbers as their male counterparts. During 1989-90, the University granted only 19 percent of its mathematics Ph.D. degrees and 9 percent of its physics Ph.D. degrees to women. Researchers found that although women and men with these undergraduate majors graduate from the University in equal numbers, there is a great dis- parity between the sexes when it comes to pursuing graduate work. The study points to a lack of con- fidence among women about entering these fields of study, which are traditionally male-dominated, as one of the root causes. Blame for this disparity does not lie entirely with women students. Rather, the main culprits are the hostility and the lack of support from predomi- nantly male departments and from society at large. The University mustrecognize these negative forces which act against women by implementing changes and developing new strategies to support women students who are interested in graduate work. The study found that women in the math and physics departments receive far less active encour- agement from faculty and peers than men. This lack of support is particularly demoralizing for women because personal relationships with sup- portive faculty are key to academic success, ac- cording to the study. Moreover, many University women graduates who do go on to do graduate work in math and science opt for other, more supportive, schools because of the hostile atmo- sphere here. University departments need to actively fight this problem. The math and physics departments could form support networks and programs that specifically address the needs of female students. The departments could form an organization fe- male graduate students; a good model would be the Society for Women Engineers. Increased faculty counseling for women students would also provide much needed support. This would help provide the active encouragement for women suggested by the study. Something in society discourages bright and qualified women from achieving success in higher levels of math and science. But it is still the responsibility of the University and its depart- ments to transform the environment that sends such hostile signals to female students. If the University doesn't do its part to change that environment, highly qualified women will go elsewhere. If it does change, it can help eliminate the societal stigma that prevents women from reaching the upper levels of success in math and science. Real student-athletes To the Daily: I happen to believe that most athletes here are smart and "pull their weight" in the classroom. I know several athletes whose GPAs are very high and who have won several academic awards and honors. I also think it is important to note that once athletes get into college, their eligibility require- ments are the same as those for non-athletes. However, there is one aspect of the "student-athlete" life-style that I think is also important to note. The Athletic Department does its best to cover up offenses for which "normal" students would be expelled. Just ask Matt Elliot about his plagiarism charges that got him kicked out of the graduate program in telecom- munications. The real student-athletes are the ones in club sports. These student-athletes spend several hours each day in preparation for practice and in practice itself in addition to spending countless hours in fund-raising activities because the University gives them close to no money. When the season rolls around and the team has a meet or a race to go to club teams pay for University vans or rent transportation from some- body else with cheaper rates. I would like to congratulate all of the athletes who have remem- bered that they are students first. And to the ones who turn pro before they earn their degree or cheat to stay in school, "Hail to the victors..." Lee Bowbeer LSA senior Sexist Bikini ad To the Daily: I find it inconceivable that on the same day (4/16/92) the Daily ran an article about sexism in advertising, an ad by Sun and Snow picturing a bikini-clad woman, pushing her breasts together and looking quite orgasmic was also run. The Daily touts itself as a very liberal newspaper; perhaps it should start practicing what it preaches. Pamela Paxton LSA senior Daily misrepresents SACUA c To the Daily: The Daily editorial ("End of the Age Cap Helps 'U'," 4/17/92) includes an inaccuracy that needs correcting. The Senate Advisory Com- mittee on University Affairs (SACUA) has never "voiced objections" to removing the retirement cap for faculty. In fact, that point has never been dis- cussed. And, the quote from Peggie Hollingsworth included in the editorial was taken totally out of context; it had nothing whatsoever to do with faculty retirement issues. I object to the misrepresenta- tion of SACUA discussions. It is probably safe to say that the members of SACUA anticipate both benefits and problems - for students, for faculty, for the University - with the removal of the requirement that faculty retire at age 65, unless invited to continue. The SACUA meeting last week did include discussion with Provost Whitaker of initiating a study in an attempt to forecast the effects of this important change - the effect on teaching, on cost, on the ability to hire faculty new areas and so on - and to identify any policy changes or new policies that would be useful in obtaining the positive outcomes while minimizing the negative ones. Most of the SACUA members do not know the consequences of this important change and believe that we do need to investigate them. We certainly have not reached any conclusions - good or bad. The editorial, since it refers to Professor Sidney Fine and his continued outstanding perfor- mance after age 65, should have noted that he continued in active status -- as many other faculty - even before the cap on retirement was removed. Roy Penchansky SACUA Professor of Public Health University ignores tragic suicide To the Daily: Over a week ago, we learned that our biology teaching assis- tant, Jim Doubles, committed suicide. Needless to say, we were extremely shocked and upset to hear of his death. It is difficult to say how the University could best have dealt with this tragedy, but the manner in which it was handled was alarmingly imper- sonal. On Wednesday, April 8, Jim's death was callously announced to our 500-person lecture. Although a small article had been hidden on the third page of the Daily that morning, this was the first time that many students learned of what had happened. After a brief and businesslike announcement, lecture proceeded as usual. There was no time for Jim's students to absorb the fact that he was gone, let alone for them to grieve for him. Jim's death was treated merely as the elimination of another faceless number, rather than the loss of a valued human life and a wonderful person. It is frightening to think that a univer- sity can be so huge that it can detach itself from the lives and deaths of its students. For Jim's sake, we hope that in the future people will take time out from their busy schedules to consider the weight of something so tragic as a suicide. Amy Jarvis Megan Ridley Deborah Stein LSA sophomores Meanwhile, back at Iran-Contra With the upcoming departure of Nuts and Bolts, the Daily is seeking a new comic-strip cartoonist. If you are interested in drawing for the Daily next fall, please submit a portfolio as soon as possible. In addition, we are looking for an artist who will draw for the Opinion page. If you are interested, please call the Daily at 764-0552 and ask for Yael, Geoffor Jay. T he six-year Iran-Contra drama has just taken a new turn. The special prosecution has now directed its resources to investigate the involve- ment of President Reagan's secretaries of state and defense, George Schultz and Caspar Weinburger. Earlier, Schultz and Weinburger had distanced themselves from the scandal, claiming they had opposedthe arms-for-hostages proposal every time it had been raised. To date, little evidence has surfaced to implicate Schultz and Weinburger in any wrongdoing, and the pair may very well be innocent. But the move to investigate the involve- ment of the State and Defense departments dis- plays, at least, the special prosecution's intent to play hardball with the big guns. The hundreds of millions of dollars the govern- ment has squandered has produced a few convic- tions, but none have led to prison sentences. Oliver North, Robert "Bud" McFarland, Gen. Richard Secord and Adm. John Poindexter have all gotten off scot free. The intransigence and lack of coop- eration by the Justice Department and the CIA have made special prosecutor Lawrence Walsh's job difficult. But, if the prosecution fails to win convictions, the American people can at least be grateful for the parts of the Iran-Contra puzzle that have been pieced together. Still unknown, however, is what role the presi- dent and his cabinet played as the United States completed arms-for-hostages deals with Iran and funneled money to the Contras. The investigation has yet to focus on the activities of Schultz, Weinburger, and Presidents Bush and Reagan. . If the president's cabinet allowed low-level White House staff to construct foreign policy with- out its knowledge, then the executive bureaucracy must be reformed to ensure no such underground governments can function in the future. If Schultz and Weinburger were aware, then the appropriate criminal charges should be levied against them as accomplices in subversion of the law. Whichever is the case, no former member of the Reagan White House should cower behind their delusions of grandeur. Walsh should be allowed and encouraged to reach as high as he must to uncover the truth. Convictions or no, this much is owed to the American people. Germans must accept responsibility All living Jev their age or the cc in, are Holocaust true because if Hit there would be no where. We cannot change history. Photographs of Nazi murderers lining children up for the gas chamber will never go away. Once you've seen these pic- tures, it's hard to watch a group of playing in a sch wondering how! looked, had they nate. This is somet eration of Jews mi day of our lives. I ws, regardless of untry they reside survivors. This is lerhad succeeded, living Jews, any- been educatedabout the Holocaust. Nevertheless, I am devoting my last column to this topic because various disturbing events of the past year indicate that some members of I have personally experienced the horror of walking through work- ing class neighborhoods in Berlin where freshly painted swastikas adorn the walls. I have also visited While Jews are certainly not the only victims of racism, there are few peoples in the world that . share the recent and vivid horror of genocide. ' y~y}. 1 4y this comuunity fail to comprehend the concentration cam called ::V1Vf.'S Y}..".. "'">,. the significance of the Holocaust. Dachau. where you-can look out. b MattrThis year the Daily ran a num- through barbed-wire fences at the ber of poignant editorials that criti- comfortable homes of Germans. I Adler cized modern German society and wonder what the crematorium vr fn iL j idl f i d likenn hnt o mm a s r t. [ .', l Nuts and Bolts by Judd Winick f Jewish children ool yard without they would have been so unfortu- hing that my gen- ust live with every cannot find words government for inciet oe ai Semitism and xenophobia. The edi- torials cited statistical evidence of the racism that exists in Germany to this day. After each editorial we received several letters, mostly from German-Americans, accusing us of making up lies about German rac- ism. Everyone in Germany knew what was happening. Anyone who wasn't trying to stop Hitler, was helping him. Germany bears moral respon- sibility for the Holocaust. I pity Germans my age. It must be diffi- cult for them to accept the crimes of their ancestors. I have no sympathy, r YOU'RE 1THE $EST fR1ENit I. EVea H/P. ICN9 N NEW YORK. IN L.A. £foi. ]f, It i I ii I