The Michigan Daily - Monday, September 28, 1992- Page 7
Women to gain more power in
politics, conference says
by Megan Lardner
More women are seeking politi-
cal offices this year because they
feel they can gain a stronger voice in
the nation's government, the presi-
dent of a national women's political
organization told a U-M audience
Friday.
Harriett Woods, president of the
National Women's Political Caucus
(NWPC), addressed approximately
50 people about the advancements of
women in politics, as part of a con-
ference called "Crossing Currents:
Contemporary Women's Movements
in Germany and the United States."
Woods has been a Missouri lieu-
tenant governor, state senator and
two-time Democratic nominee to the
U.S. Senate. A U-M graduate, she
also was one of the first female
editors of the Daily.
Founded in 1971, the NWPC is a
grassroots, bi-partisan organization,
which supports woman candidates
who are pro-choice, pro-ERA and
who support policies for accessible
childcare.
The main focus of the NWPC is
to recruit, support and train progres-
sive female candidates of any
political party to enter office.
"Women have been reformers
from the outside, rather than the
decision-makers inside," Woods said.
Before this year women have seen
politics as dangerous and corrupt,
Woods said. This year is different,
she added, because more women have
a real chance at attaining power
positions in the government.
Of the 11 female candidates for
the Senate, all have won primaries.
Of the 113 female candidates for the
House of Representatives, 106 have
won primaries.
Why this year? Woods cited
several contributing factors:
There is a larger pool of
politically-positioned women with a
real possibility of winning. More
women are willing to take the risk
as they see other women running and
winning.
The change in the national
agenda from Cold War to the domes-
tic front has also helped because vot-
ers want problem-solvers for jobs,
health care and education.
The desire for change, com-
bined with deadlock in Congress, has
helped female candidates. Woods said
Americans are fed up with the
,system.
There is also the opportunity
factor in women's elections; women
have always been behind and have
needed to run faster. Congressional
redistricting and retirements have of-
fered more winnable races and more
open positions in the government.
"What the voters want are out-
siders. They want agents of change,"
she said. "If you look at the imagery
of treading water, you can stay
afloat, but you aren't going
anywhere."
Woods cited a survey that said
people see women as the most com-
petitive candidates for the
Democratic and Republican parties,
and the ones most likely to focus on
domestic issues.
"The agenda has shifted to a posi-
tion that women were giving
priority to all along," she said.
Woods said she expects that at
the least, the November election will
put two more women in the Senate
- doubling the current number.
The National Women's Political
Caucus hopes for a 50 percent in-
crease in the number of women in
the House, which would raise the
present membership from 29 to
between 40 and 50.
Woods said she was also pleased
with the increase in minority women
in Congress. She said she expects an
additional two Hispanic women and
three African American women in
Congress in 1992.
Woods admitted to her audience
that "it's going to be a long haul,"
but ended the lecture with the opti-
mistic remark, "In the United States,
you're going to see a giant step for-
ward in November."
Leavin' on a jet plane
Air Force troops head home from Homestead Air Force Base yesterday. The troops, who arrived shortly after
Hurricane Andrew struck Aug. 24, boarded military and chartered commercial aircraft.
Englers new social contract' plan
*requires work or school for welfare
LANSING, Mich. (AP) - It's
payback time. That's the way some
welfare recipients look at Gov. John
Engler's new "social contract."
Starting Thursday, welfare recip-
ients will be asked to spend 20 hours
a week in school, at work or
volunteering.
"Some of them might not like it if
they have to volunteer, but I feel like
since they're on AFDC (Aid to
Families with Dependant Children),
you should want to do something in
return," said Mary Dailey.
Dailey, who gets welfare benefits
for her two children, already meets
the requirements. She attends adult
education classes, the first step to-
ward a degree in criminal justice and
a job in a correctional facility.
The social contract is the linchpin
of a revamped system that Engler
promised would change the nature of
welfare in Michigan.
Other key portions taking effect
Thursday, the start of the new state
fiscal year, include bigger incentives
to work part time, tougher penalties
for welfare cheating, and expansion
of programs to. keep families
together.
Bills to increase child support
collections, penalize parents whose
children don't attend school and ease
adoption procedures are pending.
Social Services Director Gerald
Miller predicted within five years
the program will remove many of
the 230,000 families now on wel-
fare, without any extra costs.
But the chair of the House social
services budget subcommittee com-
plained the program is turning out to
be a hoax.
Rep. David Hollister (D-Lansing)
said the social contract is an empty
promise since the state refuses to pay
for transportation and day care so
people can fulfill their assignments.
AFDC recipient Linda White
feared the contract would cost her
money.
"You should have to pay a baby
sitter to do volunteer work? That's
ridiculous," she said.
Hollister said little ground work
has been done in advance to prepare
agencies that are supposed to accept
volunteers and no arrangements have
been made to train them before they
arrive.
"This is another move to try to
eliminate people from the rolls by
coming up with a program designed
to fail," said Rep. Charlie Harrison
(D-Pontiac).
But Dan Cleary, coordinator of
the department's task force imple-
menting the changes, said the pro-
gram is more than just doing some-
thing in exchange for welfare.
"But the long term benefit is we
believe that if people are involved in
their community, they're improving
their community and themselves,
and in that process, they become
more employable," he said.
Detroit teachers return to work
CLASSIFIED ADS
.ANNOUN C IMENTS ANNOUNCEM ENTS
today after
DETROIT (AP) - Public school
teachers voted yesterday to begin a
delayed school year that's likely to
include a few extra lessons on civics
and labor relations following a four-
week strike.
The school board and the union
representing 10,500 teachers reached
a tentative agreement Saturday to
end a strike that began Aug. 31, the
day before classes were to begin for
168,000 students.
Yesterday's vote means teachers
will return to work today, and stu-
dents will start class tomorrow.
Teachers plan to vote tomorrow on
the contract itself.
But Detroit Federation of
Teachers president John Elliott told
more than 1,000 teachers gathered
for yesterday's vote that the end of
the strike signaled only a truce, not
peace, with the school board.
"The Board of Education and the
superintendent simply did not seem
to understand what this system is all
about," he said.
"This is an anti-union, non-sup-
portive-of-teachers board, and I
think from now on, we'll have to say
that loud and clear.... Our problems
are not over, and neither do I believe
that the board has learned its lesson
yet."
why the board made that statement,
other than for the sake of a threat,"
he said. "How can you lay off
teachers when you don't have
enough of them in the first place?"
The union had sought to reduce
class size by an average of one stu-
dent a year over the next 10 years.
District officials agreed only to
study the issue.
Although the teachers agreed
overwhelmingly to return to classes,
some said the union should have
pushed harder for smaller classes
and more supplies.
"You have to do what you have
to do, but I wasn't really that satis-
fied with the contract," said Joan
Arnett, a fourth-grade teacher at
Custer Elementary School.
Before the strike, the union
sought a 6-percent raise and the dis-
trict offered a 3-percent bonus in lieu
of a raise, in exchange for teachers'
attendance at 50 hours of staff
workshops and seminars.
Detroit teachers with a bachelor's
degree start at $27,000 a year, earn-
ing $41,000 after 10 years.
Wayne County Circuit Judge
Robert Colombo Jr. ordered union
members to return to work Thursday
under terms of their expired contract.
Some teachers said they were
concerned about their students' re-
actions to their decision , but be-
lieved they had the students'
support.
"It's an issue they themselves
will have to deal with as they grow
up," said Lynne Field, a teacher at
J.R. King Elementary School.
four-week strike
Second
Chancel
Student Alumni
Council
Bridging the Past
eAlumni events
.Thank-a-thons
eAlumni panels
the Present
eParents' Weekend
eBlue Spirits
eShadow Program
and the Future
eCampus tours
eStudent panels
eSiblings' Weekend
Mass Meeting
Tuesday, Sept. 29 e
6:30pm in the
Alumni Center
(near tLB)
763-9754
Look for it in the
Classifieds
SENIORS!
Remember to have your
senior portrait taken this
week in the basement of
the UGLi from 8:30 a.m. to
4:45 p.m. Monday -
Friday. There is a $5
sitting fee, so please bring
that as well. Don't miss
your chance to be a part of
Michigan history!
Questions? Call 764-9425
The
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RUSH
Continued from page 3
the people who simply rush in order
to party, Namerow said.
Also contributing to the unex-
pected average numbers this year
were the decreased efforts on behalf
of fraternities to promote them-
selves.
"A lot of houses were just ex-
pecting people to show up without
putting any effort into rush,"
Namerow said. "Flyers and banners
just don't cut it - it all comes down
to people. Personal contact is the
best way for houses to promote
themselves. If you put the work into
it, you see results."
Namerow said he feels the apa-
thetic attitude of fraternities toward
rush contributed the most to the un-
expected average numbers.
"People are always quick to
blame the alcohol policies for loss in
numbers, when really, they should
blame themselves for not putting the
time into publicity. As a whole this
year, I was not impressed with the
work fraternities put into rush,"
Namerow said.
WRITE :OR THEDAILY
ON SALE AT MIDNIGHT TONIGHT!!
NEW CD's FROM:
Superintendent Deborah McGriff
did not immediately return a phone
call yesterday for comment.
The agreement gives teachers pay
increases of 4 percent in its first year
and 3 percent in its second. The raise
in the second year is contingent on
money collected from delinquent
property taxes.
The raises will probably be paid
for by laying off up to 250 teachers
and an undetermined number of ad-
ministrators and non-teaching per-
sonnel, district spokesperson Steve
Wasko said.
But Elliott told teachers he
doesn't believe that analysis.
"For the life of me, I don't know
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