4- The Michigan Daily - Monday, October 18, 1993
~Ije £bidgn &aigl
420 Maynard
Ann Arbor, MI 48109
Edited and managed
by students at the
University of Michigan
JOSH DUBow
Editor in Chief
SAM GOODSTEIN
FLINT J. WAINESS
Acting Editorial Page Editors
Unless otherwise noted, unsigned editorials reflect the majority opinion of the Daily editorial board.
All other cartoons, articles and letters do not necessarily represent the opinion of the Daily.
2:SURE NMEEE DmfPqA V C. MZ
T WAS5 hUNC.Y yt
AIDS Awareness Week
U AIDS is an issue that affects all students
Today marks the beginning of AIDS Awareness
SWeek. Cosponsored by the University and the
city of Ann Arbor, this week is designed to bring the
issue of AIDS to the forefront of people's minds and
hearts -in our community and in the world around
us. Activities include exhibits, performances, lec-
tures, discussions and workshops, spanning the cam-
pus from the Union to Bursley Hall.
Some resent the idea of an AIDS Awareness
Week. They see AIDS as an issue solely of gay men,
or of drug users, or prostitutes. To these individuals,
leading "moral" lives, AIDS seems a foreign issue,
as remote to them as the war in Bosnia or the famine
in Somalia. In our protected world of Ann Arbor, it
is very easy to feel that nothing dangerous -espe-
cially not a horrifying, deadly disease such as AIDS
-can touch us.
Yet in reality, this is far from true. According to
University Health Services, 20 percent of people
infected with the HIV in this country are in their
twenties. A recent study by the Centers for Disease
Control estimates that for every 1,000 college stu-
dents, there are 2.3 HIV-positive individuals. What
this statistic means to us is that there are approxi-
mately 80 people walking around the University of
Michigan who live with AIDS every day. These 80
are male and female, heterosexual and homosexual,
and come from all different socioeconomic and
racial.backgrounds. There is no single profile. They
are part of us, students just like any others, yet with
one major difference: they know that AIDS can
touch anyone's life.
Even for those who recognize this fact, AIDS
Awareness Week may draw objections - yet on
entirely different grounds. Many students, fresh
from sex education classes in high school and "aware-
ness ads" on television and "Safer Sex" workshops
in their residence halls, feel they already know
everything there is to know about AIDS. Their most
common reaction, when told of an event or work-
shop, is "again?" They begin to tune out, thinking
there is nothing more to be said about the issue.
This too is a mistaken attitude. It is true that if
classes and workshops have been effective, students
will know how to practice safer sex and to prevent
AIDS. Yet prevention is only a small part of the
story. This week is dedicated to all facets of the
AIDS issue, focusing as much on the individual as on
the community as awhole. Few sex education classes
cover "Taking Care of People With AIDS," awork-
shop on Thursday night, or study "The Individual's
Response to AIDS," a collection on display at the
Graduate Library. Clinical knowledge is essential
and good - but it does not exist in a vacuum. To
ignore the political, social, and emotional aspects of
AIDS is as much a denial as refusing to learn about
prevention.
Education at the University comes from many
sources, most of them outside of the classroom.'
AIDS Awareness Week is one of the best examples
of this. Events are running all week, at all hours of
the day. To go to one of the events this week takes
very little effort on the part of most students, for very
great rewards - not only greater knowledge but
greater feeling and compassion for this issue. In
short, greater awareness.
Opposition is not
discrimination
American hypocrisy
Clinton's policy on China needs to be rethought
The recent explosion of a nuclear warhead in
U China reaffirms the need for the international
community to exert political pressure on the Chinese
government to shape up. A direct message must be
sent by all international powers, especially the United
States, that China's rampant human rights abuses,
weapons proliferation and especially nuclear prolif-
eration must be halted.
The explosion ruins hopes for a global testing
moratorium proposed by President Clinton and rep-
resents a serious step backwards in the struggle to
begin the process of shifting toward a nuclear-free
world. But the Clinton administration could have
responded to the disturbing actions of the Chinese in
several different ways. The most prudent course of
action would be for the administration to lead by
example. Instead, in typical American fashion,
Clinton decided to lead with threats. If China is going
to test nuclear weapons, then the administration
decided it was also going to get ready to continue
nuclear testing. Somehow, this is supposed to en-
courage China to follow suit. It won't.
The United States is acting hypocritically. For
example Russia has a significantly cleaner record on
nuclear weapons' testing than the United States
does.
are a few that would be much more productive than
simply continuing the Clinton policy of two wrongs
equalling a right.
The most recent international message sent to
China was the International Olympic Committee's
(IOC) decision to award the 2000 games to Sydney,
Australia over the high bidders in Beijing. This was
a solid move by members of the IOC and it served to
show that the rest of the world was solidly opposed
to China's continued imprisonment of purely politi-
cal prisoners and its dismal record on nuclear prolif-
eration. But this act must be seen in its proper
context. It was a small step and will not, acting alone,
encourage China to open up its political system.
Revoking China's Most Favored Nation status
with the United States, on the other hand, is a weapon
which the United States could use to encourage
China to change its status quo policies. But Chinese
politicians know, however, that the United States
would never rescind most favored nation status due
to the economic interests associated with the worlds
largest untapped market. As usual, economic inter-
ests have become distanced from human rights abuses
and the encouragement of nuclear nonproliferation.
In light of past and recent transgressions by the
Chinese government, the explosion of a nuclear
warhead seriously points toward the need for US
politicians to get serious. The time has come to find
a way to pressure the Chinese government to cure its
recent rash of human rights and nuclear weapon
abuses without furthering American hypocrisy.
To the Daily:
The boycott of Colorado as
proposed by the QLSA (Queer Law
Students Alliance) is illustrative of
several typical misconceptions by
both gay individuals and "civil-rights
activists" in their political agenda.
All too often the gay-rights lobby
seeks to cloud the real issue behind
the opposition of the gay platform by
using bogey-words such as
"discrimination" and "homophobe"
to silence critics. As an example to
this point, the QLSA condemns
Colorado for "discriminating"
against gays with the passage of
Amendment 2 in November. How
can Amendment 2 be discriminatory?
It merely states that there is no need
for special legislation to protect the
civil rights of homosexuals.
But those of us who oppose the
acceptance of homosexuality as an
"alternative lifestyle"-surely we
are guilty of discrimination? I
suppose the answer will depend on
how exactly we define
discrimination. Is the refusal to
accept deviant behavior as normal
discriminatory against the deviant?
Or is it the realization that there are
"moral imperatives" which remain
fixed and constant -and the refusal
to alter one's convictions because
they may be politically inconvenient
orunsettling?
If the opposition of
homosexuality for moral or rational
reasons is to be considered
discriminatory then let's at least be
consistent. We must also recognize
(and vigorously oppose) the
discrimination against smokers by
non-smoking policies in restaurants
and on airplanes, against drinkers by
policies in the University bus system
and in the dorms, against drug
addicts and alcoholics, rapists,
murderers and pedophiles in our
legal system.
The use of discrimination to
describe opposition is truly
unfortunate because it trivializes the
very real cases that exist. Perhaps
that's what makes the irony behind
the Daily's espousal of the gay rights
cause on campus all that more
striking. After demanding an end to
the "intimidation" of gays on the
University campus, the Daily shows
equally avid support for the ultimate
form of discrimination-abortion.
Hmmm.
JOHN SCHAUBLE
LSA sophomore
Christian organization who thinks
and does likewise concerning the
new Regents' Bylaw, is in sharp
deviation with the second of the
greatest commandments: "love your
neighbor as yourself." (Mt 22:39)
I would also like to inform all of
your readers that despite the rather
vocal opinions of the Religious
Right, not everyone believes that
being a homosexual is a sin. In fact,
this is not even an all-encompassing
interpretation among traditions under
the Judeo-Christian paradigm. Please
do not assume that people that throw
around the word "Christian" in such
a loose manner, and then do not
follow the principals entailed, are
examples true for all Christians.
JOSHUA SNYDER
LSA Junior
Too much emphasis is
placed on research
To the Daily:
We read your editorial on
"Publish or perish?" (9/28/93) with
great interest. While your assessment
of the value given to teaching in
considerations of promotions and
tenure may have been accurate in the
Physics Department, it is somewhat
removed from that in the College of
Engineering. In recent discussions
between a colleague and his
Department Chairman on a tenure
recommendation, the Chairman
explained to our colleague that
classroom teaching was simply not
considered relevant to promotion/
tenure decisions any more. The
Chairman's justification was that one
naturally grew tired of teaching
courses after having done so a few
times, and consequently, only
qualities like research into teaching
and course development were
considered as teaching contributions
of value in promotion/tenure
decisions. For the Chairman who
aspires to be a Dean, and can get
away with this attitude, excluding
any recognition for classroom
teaching while exclusively rewarding
other things (predominantly securing
research funding) is a rational action.
Spectacular increases in Department
funding a Chairmanship are often
required credentials for appointment
as a Dean, for whom many of the
principal expectations concern fund-
raising abilities. As long as this
attitude is tolerated at Universities,
this kind of action will remain
rational and the decline in teaching
will continue.
CONCERNED MEMBERS OF
THE COLLEGE OF
ENGINEERING FACULTY
they cannot do anything either. The
University has a contract with the
federal government to run the
program. Besides, the University
will not give up the millions of
dollars it receives from the
government, because of a policy
neither they nor ROTC can change.
Moreover, even before the "don't
ask, don't tell" policy was in effect, *%
no one was ever denied participation
in ROTC because of sexual
orientation. If that person so desired,
they could take ROTC classes. They
just could not gain a federal
commission as per federal regulation
mandated by Congress. Even your
basic facts about ROTC are
incorrect: ROTC does not recruit 70
percent of the military. According to
Department of Defense statistics,
ROTC last provided the military
with 67 percent of its new officer
corps. ROTC, as per its name, is a
Reserve Officer's Training Corps. It
is responsible for training new
officers only. Therefore, it does not
train the enlisted force which makes
up the bulk of the military.
Also, I am curious as to why
most of the great things about ROTC
go either unnoticed or are not
reported with the same zeal as the
homosexual issue. ROTC regularly
has blood drives, donates time and
money to charities such as Safehouse
and the Ronald McDonald house,
volunteers to work at the Big Ten
Run, food and toy drives for the
needy, and visiting patients at the
Veteran's Hospital around holiday l
time. These are just a few of the
many wonderful community
activities that ROTC performs.
Moreover, the cadets and
midshipmen love doing these
activities. Do any of the
organizations that take such pleasure
in chastising ROTC, such as the
ACLU, Queer Action and the
Lesbian Gay Male Bisexual Program
Office, for a policy they have no.
control over, participate in any
community activities that even
compare to the ones above? Yet,
every time they whine to the
University about anything frivolous,
it is front page news to you. There
are many people out there, like
myself, who know the truth and will
no longer accept the lies that are
reported by a very biased medium. *
MAT HOFFMAN z
Nursing Senior
Burden is on Smith
After wading through Bradley
Smith's diatribe on the Holocaust
("Museum Lacks Evidence of
Genocide" 10/6/93), Iwas hard
pressed to find answers to the
following: Exactly why is Smith so
intent on proving that the Holocaust
did not happen? An extreme form of
denial, perhaps? What is he afraid of?
And what kind of proof does he
want? Pictures of a gas chamber in
action? No one actually photographed
the atomic bomb going off over
Hiroshima -not from the ground,
that is. So we don't really have proof
that the Bomb killed all those people,*
if we were to satisfy Smith's
requirements. (We don't have proof
that gravity truly exists, either.
Mr. Smith, simply given the
eyewitness accounts of the camps -
from the victims or from the soldiers
0
m
The options 'left for the world community to
pursue in order to censure China are few, but there
The Religious Right ROTC is inaccurately,
does not speak for all portrayed by media
Christiansp
Campus 'Qu
By JASON HACKNER
This is a message to all campus
queers (oh, and straight folks as well):
Last month the Regents voted seven to
one in favor of adding sexual orienta-
tion into the University's non-discrimi-
nation code. The vote was a major
victory for the campus Queer commu-
nity and indeed for the entire Univer-
sity community as well. This event
came as the result of years of work by
community and University activists.
After 20 years of debate, the "liberal"
eers need to unite
coming visible. Why, even on our "lib-
eral" campus there was a storm of
controversy less than a year ago when
the Lesbian-Gay Male-Bisexual Pro-
grams Office (LGMBPO) was in dan-
ger of being closed (Associate Dean of
Students Affairs Carter denied any
moves to close the LGMBPO).
The next question is "what's next?"
How will the University follow up on
this historic move by the regents?
Given the University's track record
in regards to progressive reform, it
the vote will usher in a new era at the
University: Where the LGMBPO will
finally receive an adequate budget to
do the kind of functions other major
university LGB offices perform;
where the Office of Multicultural
Initiatives can drop its practice of
institutional heterosexism and truly
embrace the issues of queer people
of color; where the University --in
its role as leader and innovators in
the national academic community
- will create a Gay and Lesbian
To the Daily:
I am very tired of conservative
Christians pretending to speak for all
Christians always and everywhere
concerning religious opinions on the
issue of homosexuality. As a;
religious liberal, I think that their
interpretation of Christian doctrine
sorely misses the mark of the1
universal love for all humanity, so
central to that religion.
In the article printed last
Thursday, Oct. 7, the President of
To the Daily:
I am writing in response to your
article on Oct.1 about homosexuals
in the ROTC. As you mentioned in
your article, this is not a new debate.
Therefore, it still disturbs me that
after all these years you still have not
reported the truth; even though it is
public information and the Daily has
been informed about the truth several
times. It is no wonder you have the
local gay rights activists making
statements that they want to change
things within the ROTC system.