The Michigan Daily- Thursday, March 18,1993-Page 5
Students, departments like PPIH have trouble finding justice at
To the Daily:
Where does one get justice on this
campus?
As a graduate student in the
School of Public Health's embattled
Population Planning and International
Health.(PPIH) program, I find myself
wondering who makes the decisions
on this campus and where one finds
justice. As you may know from
previous press reports, School of
Public Health (SPH) Dean June
Osbom, in response to a request for
support from the PPIH faculty for
.help in addressing future faculty
shortages, took it upon herself to
move to disband the department as of
1995. She took this action in violation
of the Standard Practice Guide
adopted by the Deans and Directors
of academic units, the Senate
Assembly and the University Board
of Regents and without any consulta-
tion with the faculty, staff or students
of the department.
Since this decision was made
public, various resolutions condemn-
ing the action of the Dean and
Executive Committee have been
unanimously adopted by several
student organizations including: The
Public Health Student's Association,
representing students from all seven
departments of the School of Public
Health; the Public Health Students of
African Descent; and the Michigan
Student Assembly, representing the
entire University student body. In
addition, a petition calling for a fair
evaluation of the program and a
lifting of the imposed moratorium on
student enrollment and faculty hiring,
was signed by 486 graduate students
from SPH and other affiliated
graduate programs. Finally, I wit-
nessed the unanimous adoption of a
resolution by the Faculty Senate
demanding that the administration
honor the fundamental principals of
due process and adhere to the
procedures that they and the Regents
have approved.
In a memo to the Regents, Provost
Whitaker stated, "it is unfortunate that
the Dean and the Executive Commit-
tee felt that it would be possible to
move ahead without invoking, at the
beginning, the procedures approved
by the regents in 1979. They are
painfully aware that this oversight on
their part has contributed to the
difficult situation. However, in spite
of the rocky start, I believe that we are
back on track."
Despite all of the public condem-
nation and finally, acknowledgment
that the procedures for evaluating our
department were not followed, we are
told that the "fair evaluation"
promised by these guidelines, will
now take place.
This is tantamount to finding
someone guilty before they are even
arrested. As you read this letter,
applicants to our program are being
informed that they should apply to
other programs within the School of
Public Health. How can PPIH expect
to receive a fair evaluation under .
these conditions? Any attempt at an
unbiased evaluation was destroyed
when the Dean and Executive
Committee made their announcement.
So, where does one go for justice
on this campus? Where does the buck
stop? President Duderstadt has
suggested that we go to Provost
Whitaker. Provost Whitaker has
suggested that we air our concerns
with Professor Ramoni, the chair of
our "evaluation" committee..(The
Dean has refused to meet with us.)
PPIH students have testified before
the regents and President Duderstadt,
met with Provost Whitaker, Deans of
Homosexuality article misportrays Christianity ---
To the Daily:
It's nice to see that some things
never change. The Daily still insists
on reporting a skewed view of
Christianity on campus, and,
particularly, on the issue of homo-
sexuality. In the full page article
"Sexuality and the Supreme Being"
(3/5/93), The reporter fails, in my
opinion, to capture the Christian
perspective on homosexuality. Her
choice of quotes and the sources she
contacted seem misleading, but it is
apparent from her article that even
within the "Christian" faith, there
are different opinions, some which
have no scriptural basis. However, I
cannot allow her to report a lopsided
view of the Christian position on
homosexuals.
In the article the reporter states,
"As a result of negative interpreta-
tions of homosexuality in texts such
as the Torah or Bible, many
religions have rejected homosexual-
ity, describing it as a sin or an
inappropriate life-style." From this
statement she assumes that the
interpretations in the Torah or Bible
about homosexuality being sin are
somehow wrong interpretations,
calling them negative. She has
unjustly accused the followers of
these beliefs of erroneous interpreta-
tion.
I also have a problem with those
professing to be Christians and
ignoring specific passages stating
the sin of homosexual acts. Rev.
Christopher Atwood is one who has
committed this atrocious act. I
personally challenge him in his
theology, especially when he states,
"Some stories are written with divine
inspiration - others, human preju-
dice." With this statement he ques-
tions the authority of scripture and is
walking on thin ice. The validity of
Christianity is questioned if scripture
is not taken as totally inspired by
God, which I believe to be true. The
Bible states in 2 Timothy 3:16 that,
"All scripture is God-breathed and is
useful for teaching, rebuking,
correcting, and training in righteous-
ness." Do not be misled. I do not
believe Rev. Atwood speaks for
Christ.
As a Christian, I believe in the
inerrancy and entire trustworthiness
of the Bible for teaching and instruct-
ing. It explicitly states that the acts of
homosexuality are sin, an abhorrence
to God (e.g., Romans 1:26 - 2:1, I
Corinthians 6:9-11,I Timothy 1:10). I
do not disagree with those who say
that some people have homosexual
desires, but it is the acting out of those
desires that is sinful. These acts of sin,
though, are no different from any
other act of sin to God. God hates all
sin and sin cannot exist in His
presence. As an analogy, take
alcoholism. Alcoholism is a sin.
However, there are those who are
recovering alcoholics; they abstain
from the use of alcohol. These
people no longer have that sin in
their life nor do they allow it to
control their life. Just as a recover-
ing alcoholic has to abstain from
alcohol, a homosexual should
refrain from homosexual acts if he/
she wants to be a Christian. Jesus
Christ will forgive your sin,
whatever it may be, if you admit
you're a sinner, ask forgiveness, and
then turn from that sin with your
mind set on never committing it
again.
I do not believe that one can be a
practicing homosexual and a
Christian in the sense that the person
has no reverence for what scripture
clearly states - the acts of homo-
sexuality are sin.
Kevin Berger
Engineeriag senior
University
other schools, members of the School
of Public Health's Executive Com-
mittee, other SPH faculty, student
organizations and elected officials.
When the Dean is clearly in violation
of the rules and University policies,
who is responsible for repairing her
error?
In the name of justice and fairness
for the "little people," I call on the
regents to take a stand against this
administrative cover-up; call off its
sanctioned lynching, and work to
strengthen the University's commit-
ment to population planning and
international health.
Carol Miller
Rackham student
Women must realize
the risk in dating
To the Daily:
Natosha Morris, please stop
whining.
The article that appeared in your
column "Women bom guilty for their
own rape" (3/4/93) was simply an
essay that we have all heard before-
too many times.
While I wholeheartedly agree that
no-means-no, and that it is true most
rape victims suddenly find themselves
under unfair scrutiny, you failed to
address the unfortunate reality of
dating.
The reality is this: women are still
getting raped, despite essays and
articles like yours. You ask, "How in
the hell does visiting a man's room
... at 2:00 am justify rape?" Of
course, it doesn't. Nothing justifies
rape, but if you are there, and if you
are wearing a sheer low-cut blouse
and a mini skirt (your own example),
and you have had many drinks (also
your example), you are running the
risk. The risk of rape is part of dating
- do not for a moment think that it is
not. If you cannot accept the responsi-
bility of that risk, Natosha, stay home.
You say, "It is high time we all
wake up and stop treating men as if
they are .incompetent when it comes
to right and wrong," but I say it is
high time women accept the responsi-
bility that comes with wearing sexy
clothes and going to men's rooms at
2:00 am. Women should stop treating
themselves as if they are too incom-
petent to take matters into their own
hands by understanding the risks
involved in dating.
Andrea Berez
School of Art junior
Cutting teaching incentives
will produce worse TAs
... quotes no Muslim authorities
To the Daily:
I am writing in response to the
article, "Sexuality and the Supreme
Being" (3/5/93). In this full page
article about religion and homosexu-
ality the reporter interviews various
ministers, reverends and rabbis;
however, in researching the Islamic
view point she cannot seem to find
one imam to quote. I am not doubting
Kamran Bajwa's or Deana
Solaiman's knowledge of Islam;
rather, I am concerned with the fact
that she did not give an authorita-
tive Islamic view of the subject.
Islam is too complex to summarize
in three paragraphs and should not
be used to fulfill a minority
response requirement in any article.
Shehnaz Khan
LSA junior
To the Daily:
In the Daily article "Negotiations
continue on TA contract" (3/9/93), a
first year engineering student "said he
wouldn't support a [TA] strike
because he said many TAs do not
deserve a salary increase because they
are unqualified as teachers."
If his complaint is really about
qualifications, he should note that
most faculty have not received any
teaching training; they were hired
because of their research. TAs,
however, complete a mandatory
training course (whose effectiveness,
granted, is debatable). If his com-
plaint is about lousy TAs, he should
be advised that most departments
stack the incentives against being a
good TA; there are few if any
sanctions for sub-mediocre teaching
evaluations, and few to no rewards for
excellent teaching. On the other hand,
being a good teacher takes a lot of
effort, and slows progress on one's
graduate studies; this can. impose very
real risks on one's prospects for
finishing.
Perhaps the answer to negative
experiences with some lousy TAs is
not to reduce the health care and
(inflation-adjusted) pay of all TAs,
but to get the University to take the
anti-teaching .bias out of the incen-
tives facing grad students who work
as TAs.
Ron Cronovich
Rackham student
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