Page 4 --The Michigan Daily - Thursday, March 25,1993 4ho 420 Maynard Ann Arbor, MI 48109 Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan JOSH DuBow Editor in Chief ERrN LIZA EINHORN OpinionEditor - 0 -TAS.DEA10i 69~'am w1+1LsiME 'sj4 -riST_ 41H,/I/ '(TA1ooK ,4AIY t~1 -~ ' IVEI'T -FbY, W~ILL YA? FARETIC P1,# / / $vMi Avrb$A t jitwrI , r l ,~ y " / 1 /! .d''Y Iyt ,y4( ' -- 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. GENDER EQUITY Pitting women against men not the answer Wvl-H TH-E5E NEW RE-rFRIC-r1, l H1AiTo ITT 7NREE &UIS TobAY Q\J SPECIAL OSR, eR (rob'S AKEY THE WO -r -i- THE'R -rU)FF G&v -r, NEXT7WeFfKpA ".ms- HEY .RFMEMER /Kt'kW1 K OWI, /ICAN)-r KOOL -AlD ? ~m c-N rJ// &uSS 0 0 T HE 22 MEN on the Michigan gym- Women's spo nastics team were officially informed grow. Just like it last week that after 1994, their sport will there was no n no longer receive varsity funding. They can women because keep their scholarships, but for many Michigan dirty, it is now a gymnasts, the direction of their remaining years toward promotin at the Univer- sity has shifted.y The Michigan. Athletic De- partmenthow-w ever, takes no responsibility. The blame, itf claims, rests with the status of high school# boys' gymnas- tics, and with women.v TheAthletic . Department an- nounced last While Mens' gymnastics takes a cut ... week that in the interest of complying with the women is just a Big Ten's recently enacted Gender Equity Act, although more t it would cut the men's gymnastics program and this University raise the women's soccer team to varsity status. only 33 percent The Gender Equity Act -passed unanimously Ten merely man by Big Tenpresidentslast June- mandates that by 1997, member= schools raise female participation so that 40 percent of total varsity4 athletes are women. The move for women's soccer is positive, but cutting men's non-revenue sports intheinterestofachieving gender equity merely fuels the backlash against women athletes and ben-{ efits no one.r Granted, it may be difficult for an athletic department that re- - ceives all of its funding from rev-N enue-generating men's sportslike '2 football, basketball and hockey to:> reserve 40 percent of its profits f ~ " for women athletes. But depart- ment administrators have repeat- edlyespousedthattheirfirstcom- mitmentistopromoting theexpe- rienceofindividualathletes. How- £° ever, the University has repeatedWomen's soccer reache placed the bottom line over edu- cational responsibilities. status. Women have benefitedin the past few years gives men and astheirprograms havereceivedincreased fund- ition is high en ing and scholarships, but women athletes are number of stud now being told they cost the department money. funds. Rhetorically, the athletic department values Gender equi men's teams and women's teams equally, but enacted Title IX while it supports women on paper, its actions 1972 and gave tell them they are the reason their male friends offer men and are being cut. comply. It is 20 This is not what college sports should be being tossed aro about. like 60-40. It do One of the reasons football and men's bas- women athletes ketball make money is because millions of sports. The Ath dollars have been spent promoting these sports. with athletes an Football hasbeenthepremier athletic institution trimmed and fu at Michigan for the past hundred years and also look into continues to be the main focus for both alumni administrative and students. athletes should rts have never been allowed to was assumed 30 years ago that eed to offer sports teams for good girls wouldn't want to get ssumed that even if funds went g women's sports, no one would watch.This isnotthecase. It was once said that no one would patronize a fe- male doctor. It is the same attitude that says no one ' will watch "weak" women go in for a lay up. The Athletic Department has in recent years tried to promote women's sports - to the point of giving away tickets - but this practice must continue for several years before it can make an impact. The demand for strong athletic programs for is strong as it is for men. Yet ian 45 percent of the students at are female, women comprise of Michigan athletes. The Big dates Michigan move that ratio " to 40 percent. This by no means con- stitutes "equity" and non-revenue male athletes should not have to suffer for this very simple goal to be .reached. Funding is not the only ob- stacle standing in the way of gender equity. The major hurdle is attitude: while revenue sports are consid- ered sacred, women'ssports are considered aprivi- legemadepossible h e's by these sports. Chargng °arsty dentfeesisnotnec- essary to fund an sportsprogramthat women equal opportunity. Tu- )ugh already and only a limited ents would benefit from these ty is not a new idea. Congress of the Educational Equity Act in all public schools until 1978 to women equal opportunity and ) years later and athletes are still und to reach a half-way solution es not have to be a dual between and men who play non-revenue letic Department needs to work d coaches to see where fat can be nds can best be spent. It should saving money by streamlining ranks. Manipulating the lives of be the absolute last resort. (>0~ . 1. 1 . - Ti : ':, : , Doctor killed by one man, not By Peter A. Thomason Co-Director Washtenaw County Rescue As I suspect most people were, I was shocked and saddened to hear about the murder of Dr. Richard Gunn in Pensacola, Fla. last week. I was shocked because of the cold-blooded way in which it happened, saddened because of the pain his family is surely experiencing, but also because of the repercussions this will have on the pro-life movement. I fear that this isolated incident will lend credence to some people's perception that pro-lifers are radical religious fanatics who will stop at nothing to impose their world view on American society. The fact that Gunn's death followed the bombing of the world trade center which has been attrib- uted to a group of "fundamentalist" Mus- lims and that it took place during the stand- off with the Branch Davidian cult in Waco, Texas, only makes it appear that much more like the work of another self-appointed arbiterofdivinejustice. ButifIcanmakean analogy, Michael Griffin no more repre- sents the pro-life movement than David Koresh represents historic Christianity or the men arrested in the World Trade Center bombing represent the vast majority of Muslims. Hopefully, most people, wher- ever they stand on the abortion question, will recognize that Gunn's murder was born out of frustration and a heterodox understanding of the Gospel. Even if one concedes that such an act might bejustified on the basis that it would save the lives of innocent unborn children, the execution of the act is indefensible in that it violates the very principles regarding the sanctity of human life that pro-lifers base their actions upon. Washtenaw County Rescue and the other pro-life organizations we have been asso- ciated with have always taken anon-violent approach to stopping the killing of the un- born. While blocking the entrance to an all pro-ihfers individual who does not represent the pro- life movement as a whole, but as who he was, according to the reports I've heard, previously given to bouts of violence and irrational behavior. The fact that Griffin appears to have been pre-disposed to use violence to solve his own personal problems should not be seen as an indictment of his belief that unborn children have a right to live. One of the unfortunate consequences of an event like this is the guilt by association that follows for others who have something in common with the perpetrator of the alleged crime. This is like saying that all Sicilians. 0 aI fear that this isolated incident will lend credence to people's perception that pro-lifers are radical religious fanatics who will stop at nothing ...' abortion facility might be confrontational in one sense, it is still non-violent. We have never advocated or tolerated the use of any tactics that could reasonably be construed as violent. I believe that all the area law enforce- ment agencies we have dealt with over the years would attest that this is true. As much as I can say that Gunn's com- mitment to performing abortions is utterly abhorrent tome, Griffin's actions areequally abhorrent. I only hope that the general pub- lic will recognize them as the actions of an are suspect because some Sicilians are known members of the Cosa Nostra and have connections to organized crime. Washtenaw County Rescue remains committed to using non-violent interven- tion to provide help for women in crisis pregnancies and save the lives of unborn children wherever we can. We condemn the actions that resulted in Gunn's death butwe also believe that Gunn's actions, i.e. the killing of unborn children, are equally inde- fensible in light of the sanctity of human life from conception to natural death. 0 Breast-feeding in restrooms found To the Daily: Reading over the Daily's editorials at the beginning of this week, I stumbled upon an interesting article about Florida's legalization of public breast-feeding, "Breast-feeding; Florida permits breast-feeding in public" (3/9/93). I had never heard of any law prohibiting public breast feeding, not dreaming that any woman could be arrested and cited with indecent exposure for such a harmless and natural act. I thought to myself that most likely it was an outdated law, and that as soon as the other states recognized this legal flaw, they too would follow Florida's lead. When I found Kinsey Foster's letter ("Public Breast-feeding is inappropri- ate" 3/12), I quickly realized the mentality behind the people who support this unreasonable law. Foster repeatedly reminds his audience that he considers breast-feeding to be a "beautiful" and "natural" ... no reason t To the Daily: I have a few remarks to address to Kinsley Foster, "Public breast feeding is inappropriate" (3/12/93). As a mother and a student, I run into sentiments like these daily. Not only is the idea that breast-feeding is akin to using the toilet short-sighted and puritanical, it is also one of the major reasons why women in the third world are raising sick and mal- nourished children through the improper use of formula A woman's body is ideally suited to provide act, yet he proposes that women hide themselves and their babies in public bathrooms in order to nurse them. I can understand why the woman in the restaurant didn't go to the bathroom to nurse her baby. The majority of public restrooms are dirty, smelly, and there is often a cloud of cigarette smoke hanging in the air, not to mention the fact that there are not usually any seats in the bathroom. Would you expose your baby to those kinds of conditions and suffer through that unpleas- antness if you didn't have to? I also wonder if Foster realizes that for the first few months of an infant's life, he/ she must be fed every two hours. If a woman is not chained to her home and, as we decided above, chooses not to nurse her child in a restroom, what is she supposed to do? Two hours is a very short time span in which to accomplish anything. Perhaps while doing her errands, the mother could push her shopping cart to hide this natur, unappealing ,,, over to the side, run out to her car, nurse her baby, run back into the store, and resume her shopping. As for Foster and his friends being "shocked" by breast-feeding in public, perhaps they should look at the cause for their discom- fort. In nursing, the breast is stripped of any sexual connotation; it is simply a means with which to nourish a child. Is bottle-feeding a child in public inappropriate also? If the source of their discomfort is not sexual, what is it? I am confused by why Foster says women who breast-feed in public "lack self respect." Clarification please! It seems to me that the woman who is coura- geous enough to realize breast-feeding for the healthy, time-honored, essential act that it is, deserves the utmost admira- tion. Bryn Gerich. School of Nursing sophomore al function by Mom and Dad" student. And why, instead of sniveling to the Daily, did you not confront the lady herself and tell her how you felt? Because she might have shed some light on the subject? I'm tired of narrow- minded individuals like yourself who seek to justify their bigotry with such words as "I could see how shocked people were." There's safety in numbers, right? I'll tell you what, if you perceive that eating in the bathroom enhances the MCAT hopefully coming soon to a location near you To the Daily: This is in response to Sabina Lim's letter, "MCAT deserves test space on campus" (3/11/93), expressing concern about the availability of the MCAT on the Univer- sity campus. Ms. Lim and other medical school aspirants should know that we, too, share this 0l concern. While the University is not directly involved in the administration of the required admissions tests, the offices of the Vice Presidents for Academic and Student Affairs, along with Career Planning and Placement and ISA Academic Advising have worked together to seek an alternative arrangement with Educational Testing Services (MCAT publisher) and current independent test administra- tors. JUST PLANE WASTEFUL City Airport idea wastes NCE AGAIN, DETROIT Mayor Coleman Young's misguided ambition may cost taxpayers millions of dollars. The city has asked the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)toapproveanexpansionplanforDetroit's downtown City Airport. The expansion would cost approximately $379 million, $122.3 mil- lionto come from federal funds. Local taxes and bond sales will cover the rest of the costs. The plan, which calls for a 22-gate passenger terminal and a new 7,200-foot runway to ac- commodate alljets except 747s, is simply inap- propriate. If the FAA approves the plan, 2,500 homes would berazed, 118 businesses relocated and a train line rerouted at taxpayers' expense. 'T- A -t% .-r -raxrn .m-mahe.... noneiA _- even more tax dollars airport that only runs 15 commercial flights a day. The proposed City Airport expansion is an- other example of the Young administration's misguided efforts to revitalize downtown De- troit. One can only hope that City Airport's expansion will not resemble the People Mover, the multi-million dollar disaster that still haunts the city's balance sheet. The mayor incorrectly assumed that there was a need for the People Mover in Detroit. He is likely making a similar error with City Airport. Despite the mayor's ramblings to the contrary, Detroit's economic problems lie much deeper than City Airport. Economic improvement cannot be forced upon a Kitv b vynrnnin nirnnrc that rm nnlv 15 half- The choice to breast-feed is a difficult one to begin with. A woman has to watch her diet, make time in her schedule, and often forego an uninter- rupted night of sleep. In addition to this, you are asking a woman to hunt for a bathroom every time her child is hungry. Aren't you being a little prude? Why does .a woman who's interested in what's best for her child shock you? And as for the woman who was breast feeding in your class, would it have been better if she interrupted class to go and seek a bathroom? After much negotiating, the most suitable option for this spring is to create additional spaces at the WCC test site. We agree that as one of the largest feeder schools for medical education, the University of Michigan merits being an established testing site: students should know that their concerns have been heard and supported. We are confident that a solution will be reached so that future students sitting for the MCAT will be able to do so in the comfort of their own campus. 01 Simone Taylor I