. Page 4 -The Michigan Daily- Friday, February 12, 1993 be Li.trbuutaidi THE Mif"IGAn DRILY 13 ;, .. 420 Maynard Ann Arbor, MI 48109 Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan Josii DuBow Editor in Chief YAEL M. CITRO ERIN LIZA EINHORN Opinion Editors Unsigned editorials represent the majority opinion of the Daily editorial board. All other cartoons, signed articles and letters do not necessarily represent the opinion of the Daily. "'jul 51100 T o KILL I 51W THE ILLE&LiHOOT TO) 1ILLI A~LIEN MAflYIIAS\ r/i.. rr; i f It "IATTORNEY' 4GENE RAL- ,/~j , CANDIAT / LAfVI&S J0 Du{ 9 FIE HER i.Y'/ - --.,-- BLACK HISTORY MONTH Embrace Black contributions in history FTER THE WHIRLWIND of events and trib- and diversity for undergraduate students and the utes to African Americans that took place University's Race or Ethnicity requirement during the Martin Luther King Day cel- (ROE). These are beneficial for incoming stu- ebrations, many on campus wondered why such dents, but the workshop is optional the courses sensitivity could not be more prevalent 365 days offered to fulfill ROE are so broad that issues of a year. MLKDay contained such a large number race and minority history are not given the of events condensed on one day that it seemed attention they deserve. almost impossible for students to participate in Also, the presence of minority professors on all of them. That's why its disturbing that during campus is severely under-represented, particu- February, the month recognized nationally as larly in the English and History departments. Of Black History Month, such little attention has the 60 professors in the History department, only been given to the holiday, seven are minority professors, while in the En- The month should be a time to observe and glish department, 13 of the 100 professors are celebrate the achievements of Black Americans minorities. Increasing the number of minority in American history, but during its month-long professors in these two areas would bring a spread of events, the Housing Division, the broader perspective to University courses. Women of Color Task Force and the Associa- Manypeople argue that Black History Month tion of Multicultural Unification are the only is an excuse to recognize African-American groups sponsoring activities. The events sched- achievement for one month, only to return to uled between Feb. 3 and Feb. 18 range from studying Eurocentric history the rest of the year. dialogues on inter-racial dating, to films ad- It's true. Events likeBlackHistory Month should dressing race issues. The residence halls are also not be needed to educate people on the impor- sponsoring "special dinners." While these trib- tanceofminorities' contributions inhistory--it utes are important, the University'slack of inter- should be inherent in all discussions of history. est in promoting this celebration symbolizes its However, Black history has been ignored, re- weak commitment toward achieving a greater written or forgotten. The University's goal should understanding of multiculturalism. be to ensure the contributions of all people, The University has made some efforts- the whatever race, arerecognized and appreciatedin creation of an orientation workshop on racism history. ASUAL EDUCATION A2 schools should heed ACT UP's roposal Perspectives Black intellectuals rethink affirmative actions N A STANDING-ROOM-ONLY Ann Arbor Board of Education meeting, members of Ann Arbor's Aids Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT-UP) defended their proposal to revise the AIDS curriculum in Ann Arbor's public schools. But individuals who introduced themselves as "conservative Chris- tians" outnumbered- ACT-UP's membersr at the meeting. They crawled from be neath their collective . rock to criticize the proposal. Unless ACT-UPrallies sup- port for giving Ann Arbor students im- proved sexual educa- tion,itmayfinditself fighting a losing battle. Concealing their moral concerns in a daz- zling barrage of statistics and scientific rhetoric, the conservative Christians attacked the three main points of ACT-UP's proposal. First, one speaker argued that Ann Arbor schools should only teach abstinence. He equated the high number of teens having sex with a morally debased sexual education "revolution." Although ACT-UP concedes abstinence is the best way to prevent sexually transmitted dis- eases (STD's), teaching only abstinence will not protect sexually active students. Abstinence can be taught, but unfortunately it can not be en- forced. Another speaker objected to "the real goal" of ACT-UP's proposal - ending homophobia. In her eyes, any classroom discussion about homo- sexuality would teach children that homosexu- ality is an acceptable alternative lifestyle. The goal of this provision, however, is to increase understanding of homosexuals, not to subversively "lure" students into homosexuality as many of Ann Arbor's conservatives fear. Like racism or sexism, homophobia can be curtailed with increased openness and understanding. ACT-UP's proposal would help Ann Arbor's students achieve toler- ance and help end homophobia Third, conservatives worry about a provision intheproposalthatwould teach kindergarten stu- dents about AIDS and HIV. They seem to think teaching students about AIDS, sex and intrave- anous drug use will lead childrento develop these behaviors earlier in KRfSTOFFER GILETT ally life. But ACT-UP asserts the intent of this provi- sion is not to give kindergartners a full-blown discussion on human sexuality. Rather, kinder- gartners would be taught that just because a person has AIDS does not mean they cannot be hugged, touched or kissed. As the Centers for Disease control states in its AIDS Prevention Guide, "People who have AIDS should be treated with compassion." It is never too early to learn compassion. Although ACT-UP's plan improves Ann Arbor's sexual education program, the group seems to have a tough fight ahead. Composed of teens and twentysomethings, ACT-UPwill have a difficult time promoting its proposal against Ann Arbor's conservative parents and profes- sionals who advocate an "abstinence or igno- rance" approach. ACT-UP's proposal's needs everyone's support. The future of Ann Arbor's students may be at stake. B.Cecilia Kirk Young America 's Foundation When my father was on a television program with Malcolm X in 1964, Malcolm told him that he had no quarrel with conser- vatives, as the Black community's troubles were being caused by liberals. In that in- stance, he was referring to the licensing of liquor stores in Black neighborhoods by liberal politicians. Today, the liberal policy on college campuses, which some Black intellectuals criticize, is affirmative action in admissions. The quota system is the most controver- sial outcome of affirmative action in col- lege admissions because it allows only cer- tain numbers of each racial group to be admitted. As there are not sufficient num- bers of qualified applicants in some minori- ties to fill those quotas, and because appli- cants of other racial groups with much higher scores and grade points are rejected, this policy has engendered numerous diffi- culties. One such result is that, as the Wall Street Journal reported, "colleges are offer- ing unprecedented sums of academically talented Blacks ... Many of the awards are not based on need but on merit, causing some colleges to question whether the trend is diverting aid dollars from poorer stu- dents." At Harvard, only 94 of the 172 Black students accepted this academic year chose to attend, partly due to the large financial grants they could receive elsewhere. In his new book Inside American Edu- cation, Thomas Sowell, a prominent Black scholar at the Hoover Institute, documents the admissions figures: StanfordUniversity "rejects a majority of those applicants who scored between 700 and 800 on the verbal SAT, while admitting more than a hundred other students who score below 500 on the same test." A main reason for non-aca- demic acceptances is minority status. The UCLA Undergraduate Admissions Report for 1991 states thatits average SAT score is 950 for Blacks and Hispanics, 1150 for Asians, and 1200 for whites; the average high school GPA is 3.5 for accepted Black and Hispanic students, and 3.9 for Asians and whites. In some cases, minority quota hurt other minorities: Berkeley apologized to Asian students fordiscriminatory admissionspoli- cies and said it would raise the number of students admitted strictly on the basis of merit from 40 percent to 50 percent in 1991 - in other words, half the students would be qualified to attend. Colleges have long admitted preferen- tial groups of people, especially children of alumni, Sowell explains, and such "prefer- ential admissions tend to lead to substan- dard academic performance, whether those admitted are privileged or under privileged. What has been unique about students pref- erentially admitted by race has been the large numbers involved ... and the magni- tude of the academic and social disasters which have followed." Sowell particularly blames administrations for being more con- cerned with quotas than with the welfare of minorities: as some race-based scholarships are not need-based, minorities from lower- income groups are notbenefiting from these scholarships. One of the most dramatic failures of the policy is the high dropout rate: only 26 percent of Black students admitted to col- lege graduate within six years. Minority students accepted merely to fill quotas at "prestigious" universities are mismatched to universities for which they are inad- equately prepared. Those accepted to create "diversity" are inclined to fail: after all, some of those students' grades and test score are 75 per- centwhiletheyarecompeting againstmerit- accepted students ranked at 99 percent. This causes them to feel inferior, even though they might have succeeded at a college where their scores corresponded with the usual admissions requirements. In The Con- tentof Our Character, Shelby Steel's analy- sis of the psychological affects of affirna- tive action reveals that it implies inferiority, creating doubt among Black students about whether they can achieve, and distrust by white students of Black students' reaI abilities. Another lamentable result is increased racism, caused by the greater focus upon group membership and by resentment: the number of campus racial incidents nation- wide has significantly increased in the past few years. The exaggerated racial emphasis engenders a"politics of difference" in which each person has an identity only by assert- ing his group's rights against other groups'; quotas actually increase the violence and lawsuits. In December of 1990, Michael Will- iams, then head of the Office ofCivil Rights in the Departmentof Education, ordered the barring of race-exclusive scholarships. He believed them to be a violation of the 1964 Civil Rights Actbarring financial aid "based solely on the race of the recipient." Al- though Williams is Black himself, NAACP Director Benjamin Hooks called him "in- sensitive, callous and illogical," simply because Williams has dissented from thq supposedly uniform Black position on this issue. Williams' order was later overruled, however, and the quota mentality perseveres. Ironically, while the civil rights move- ment intended to erase discrimination, the policy which is practiced in its name contra- dicts the purpose of equal opportunity - causing many Black intellectuals to rethink affirmative action. As Shelby Steele re- marks, "By making Black the color and preference (in reverse) that we set out to@ eradicate. Theold sin is reaffirmed in anew guise." - Israel justified in expulsion of 400 Palestinians To the Daily: I am writing in response to the widespread criticism directed at Israel for the December expulsion of 400 Palestinians. What irks me is that people are judging Israel's actions by the same standards as they would treat actions by the United States. Expectations that Israel should mimic the "high morality" of the United States are implausible. Many Arabs, Palestinians and all members of the Hamas movement seek the destruction of Israel. The immense antipathy and subsequent threats directed toward Israel call for extreme disciplinary measures in order to inhibit the actions of Israel's enemies and ensure the security of the country. Even the United States has had to take drastic judicial measures to ensure its own internal security in the past. In last week's issue of "Con- sider," it was cited that in 1940 Congress enacted the Smith Act which made it a crime to advocate "over- throwing or destroying any government of the United States by force or violence." This act was adopted due to the potential dangers posed by Nazis or Communists within the United States. In contrast to the United States, Israel does not deal solely with potential dangers, but com- monly experiences attacks on its people within its borders. The danger faced by the United States in 1940 was no where near as constant or impending as the danger imposed by the Hamas movement involving the security of Israel. Has the United States ever experienced a threat this large that we can actually judge Israel's actions relative to wha4 we think we would do in their situation given our "high morality" as Americans? Elaina Bluman LSA senior STICK 'EM UP Gun search plan violates 4th Amendment HE SLEEPER HAS AWAKENED! Detroit Mayor Coleman Young finally emerged from athree-monthhiatusbehind the thick walls of the Manoogian Mansion. In a rare interview with the Michigan Chronicle, the Mayor made anironic and seemingly unconstitutional proposal to curb city violence by sealing off sections of Detroit and randomly searching passers-by for guns. Young, a life- long opponent of gun control, has made reactionary proposal to a seri- ous problem. Twelve years of Republican ad- ministrations have allowed Detroit, and other American cities, to slowly decay. Detroit is now the poorest city in America. Constitution, Young said he will consult with lawyers and police officials to keep his proposal legal. What the Mayor fails to realize is the Constitution is not a loophole to be exploited. Fortunately, Mayoral candidates Dennis Archer and Sharon McPhail have denounced Young's suggestions. Archer pointed out that stopping cars to give sobriety tests has already been rejected by the courts. Is stopping cars to search for guns any different? The Coleman Young of old, who swept into Detroit on a platform of change and crime control, now finds ng himself ostracized from the commu- nity. Instead of enacting comprehensive crime control, he appears only occasionally to state the Jah Live, Bob Marley! To the Daily: Thank you for paying tribute to Bob Marley in the proper way. It was really good to see the picture and what was said about Bob Marley to honor his birthday (2/5/93). I sometimes wonder if many of the people that listen to Bob Marley's music have at least a small idea of the significance of his life, work and the message that is expressed through his music. I would like to thank you for remembering his birthday- and for expressing so well what Bob Marley's life was about, and for not just portraying him as any musician or a crazy Rastaman. Daily irresponible in coverage of sexual assaults To the Daily: While I appreciate your giving-visibility to the issue of sexual assault on this campus - through your numerous articles and editorials this year about rape, and through your reporting of rapes that have been reported to the police - I am continually appalled and enraged by your choice to include information in these articles that identifies the survivor damaging this is for a survivor, not to mention how dangerous? When the report of my assault was printed in a local paper several years ago, the same type of identifying information was used. Not only did it reveal my assault to my family (who I had chosen not to tell since I knew they would only blame me) and to my friends (some of whom stnod by me. hut many of against a wall, calling me a bitch, and threatening to "cut my lying throat" if I didn't shut up. I had already had my life threatened and my dignity. robbed from me when I was raped. I was trying to heal and get my life back together, which believe me, is a daily' sometimes even hourly, struggle. The last thing I needed was to be violated, stalked and threatened once I