The Michigan Daily - Friday, November 5, 1993 - 5
.Regents
meet with
LGBi
activists
By BARBARA McKELVEY
FOR THE DAILY
Regents Rebecca McGowan and
Laurence Deitch (D-Ann Arbor) dis-
cussed discrimination against gay,
lesbian and bisexual students with
campus activists lastnight in the Law-
yers' Club Lounge. For an hour and a
half, the group discussed homosexu-
ality in general and Bylaw 14.06 in
particular.
Bylaw 14.06, the University'santi-
discrimination statute, only recently
addedprotection on thebasis of sexual
orientation. Before September's
amendment, a University presiden-
tial policy offered the only legal sup-
port for homosexuals.
A committee made up of students
3and faculty has begun looking for
ways to implement the bylaw.
Several students at the discussion
criticized the committee's composi-
tion, although at least one lesbian
serves on the board.
Gay activist Charles Sullivan criti-
cized the University for not seeking
out gay people to participate.
McGowan responded, "Except for
what (the committee members) tell
us, their sexual orientation is not our
0business. " She emphasized the need
to protect people's privacy.
"The issue of privacy is essen-
tial," saidLesbian-Gay Male Program
Office Director Jim Toy. "But the
composition of the gr6up sends an
unclear message. Is it, 'This doesn't
matter?' or 'We respect privacy?"'
McGowan stressed that the gay
community had been consulted be-
fore any major decisions were made.
"This change is meant to alleviate
the fear or concern of gay people that
some behemoth would come down on
people in a way that was not antici-
pated. If this came from Mount
Olympus, we would not have done
our jobs.,,
McGowan pointed to the regents'
7-1 vote in supportof the amendment.
Rackham student Monique
WMansoura had reservations. "Not
searching out gays for the committee
because, 'It's none of our business,'
implies a sense of shame."
Sullivan said feelings like this can
create the infamous "closet."
"Straights see the closet as protec-
tion, a shield from the world outside.
Actually, it is a place of darkness and
pain. Once you come out there is a
sense of intolerance for it."
He stressed the gay community's
responsibility for its own situation
and pointed to people's growing sen-
sitivity as an example."Increased
awareness happened because students
made it happen. We made it happen
when we came out," Sullivan said.
Kevin Lee, a Rackham student,
pointed out that laws are not
omnipotent."As an Asian American,
*know.... There were no laws against
me, but still there was prejudice. The
amendment is an improvement, but
there is no change in climate."
MIGHTY CHEM LAB PEOPLE
MSA candidates focus on
North Campus concerns
By KAREN TALASKI
DAILY STAFF REPORTER
To many students, North Campus
seems like afar away place. Inhabited
by engineers, artists and musicians,
its wooded pathways lead to nothing
more than a long
bus ride to Central
Campus on a Sat-
urday night.
Yet Michigan
Student Assembly
candidates hope to
bring student gov-
ELECTION
ernment to the great white north, start-
ing with improvements in its relation-
ship with MSA. Fall 1993 election
platforms are full ofpromises to bring
all the luxuries of MSA's Michigan
Union office up north.
"There's alotof potential on North
Campus, you just have to go after it,"
said Keg Party candidate Atisa
Sioshansi.
As a first-year Engineering stu-
dent, Sioshansi has many suggestions
as to how MSA could improve its
services on North Campus. As a way
to open up the lines of communica-
tion, Sioshansi would like to see rep-
resentatives get on line with the CAEN
computer network and begin a com-
puter conference.
"In general, MSA needs to get the
word out more. Everyone wants to
see more students get involved, but
people aren't standing by what they
say," she said. "There's a lot more to
do."
However, Conservative Coalition
candidate Mark Biersack warned can-
didates not to make promises that
students living on North Campus may
not want.
"It's giving North Campus special
status and I don't want to see the
assembly do anything like that,"
Biersack said. "It is a different group
of people (and) takes some looking at
to see what people really want."
He recommends asking groups like
the University of Michigan Engineer-
ing Council (UMEC) and Society of
Women Engineers (SWE) before
changing the way MSA interacts with
North Campus.
"If they think we're doing a good
enough job, we are," Biersack said.
Yet Students' Party candidate
Brian Elliott said he thinks the trials
of traveling up and back to North
Campus are tedious enough to foster
MSA opening up a branch office on
North Campus.
"There's a lot of empty space in
North Campus Commons for abranch
office, with the full capabilities of the
Union office," Elliott said. "The ac-
cess to MSA, the ability to hold office
hours, and the input of students who
live on North Campus is an absolute
necessity."
Michigan Party candidate Angie
Kelic said she thinks the most impor-
tant thing MSA could do for students
living on North Campus is increase
its visibility. She applauded the as-
sembly for taking its meetings into
North Campus residence halls like
Bursley, but said MSA needs to take
further steps toward extending its ser-
vices to students.
"Student societies would realize
there is a lot of projects they do that
could receive funding from MSA if
there was more information avail-
able," Kelic said.
MARY KOUKHABIDally
Engineering first-year student Tim Greshph and LSA first-year student Susan
Mieszczak perform experiments in their Chemistry 125 lab.
Black journalist impresses 'U'
By MEGAN SCHIMPF
FOR THE DAILY
Blazing into history, Charlayne
Hunter-Gault walked into her place at
the University of Georgia in 1961.
Last night, she walked into her place
at the University of Michigan and
spoke about her experiences and her
book, "In My Place."
Hunter-Gault, a correspondent on
the "MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour,"
was one of the first two Black stu-
dents chosen to desegregate the Uni-
versity of Georgia campus. Upon her
arrival, she was met with a storm of
racial prejudice.
Despite having a brick and a Coke
bottle thrown through her window on
her second night, Hunter-Gault said
the support of her family kept her
from feeling fear.
"I wasn't afraid. I was angry. Be-
cause somewhere in the back of my
mind there was a protection that I
couldn't identify, but it was there,"
she said.
She entered school, she said, as
the South was changing. "It was white
sons and daughters facing their most
apocryphal moment since Sherman's
march to the sea and Black sons and
daughters having their most liberat-
ing moments since the Emancipation
Proclamation," she said.
Hunter-Gault has worked for The
New Yorker and The New York
Times, among other publications,
winning many journalism awards in-
cluding two Emmys and a Peabody
Award. She was named Journalist of
the Year in 1986 by the National
Association of Black Journalists.
People still react negatively to her
appearance as a Black woman, she
said.
Earlier this year, people wrote let-
ters telling her they would not watch
her show because she had her hair
braided.
"You get those kind of reactions
because people aren't used to seeing
people as they really are," she said.
"Just beneath the surface of a lot of
people's consciousness, they look for
some superficial thing and then all the
feelings they've been nurturing in-
side just come out."
The audience was impressed by
her experiences and her attitude to-
ward them.
"It's really stunning to hear her
speak because she's so sage and such
an impressive storyteller," said Nancy
Stender, an employee of Borders
bookstore. "There are so few people
who could have been in her place and
come through it with her grace."
LSA sophomore Joy Harris said
Hunter-Gault is a role model. "She's
a leader. She has been a pioneer as far
as opportunities for other Blacks in
America."
MARY KOUKHAB/Daly
Charlayne Hunter-Gault shares experiences of Black womanhood last night
Researchers say women also perpetrate sexual violence
SOUTHFIELD (AP) - Women
use less force when they commit sex
crimes and sometimes escape pros-
ecution because authorities generally
look for male offenders, experts say.
"Females don't use as much force,
but they still can be very abusive,"
said psychologist Ruth Mathews. "It's
not that the acts they do are milder,
but they exploit opportunities more
than they use force."
Mathews runs a program for fe-
male sex offenders in Minnesota. She
spoke last month at a conference of
about 100 people in this Detroit sub-
urb.
About 20 percent of adult sex of-
fenders are women, said Kathleen
Faller, a University researcher.
Police and other investigators tend
to miss female abusers in part be-
cause women stereotypically are seen
as passive and men as active in sex,
Mathews said. Some actions that
would get a man arrested is consid-
ered OK for women, she said.
"Girls tend not to get arrested for
exposing themselves, for window-
peeping and other non-touch offenses,
because they're not considered a
threat," said Mathews. "In fact, we
exploit females for some of these
things, so how can we arrest them?"
Another example, she said, is sex
between adults and teens.
"If you have a 35-year-old guy
'If you have a 35-year-old guy with a 15-year-old
girl, It's a crime. If it's the other way around,
the guy is considered lucky.'
Kathleen Faller
University researcher
with a 15-year-old girl, it's a crime,"
she said. "If it's the other way around,
the guy is considered lucky."
Even so, boys can suffer emo-
tional harm from such relationships
just as girls can, she said.
Mathews presented results of her
research to about 100 police officers,
probation officers, therapists and child
protection workers. Safer Society
Resources of Michigan, a child-pro-
tection group, sponsored the Oct. 7
conference.
Mathews said she based her con-
clusions on a study of 70 women and
50 adolescent girls being treated in
her program.
Women and teen-age girls sexu-
ally abuse children both inside and
outside of their families but are less
likely than men to abuse strangers,
researchers said. Female abusers of-
ten have been abused extensively
themselves or are coerced by men to
commit sexual abuse, they said.
People who are sexually abused as
children by their mothers suffer se-
rious long-term emotional harm, a
social worker said.
"People have to get past the idea
that this is somehow misguided child
care," said Bobbie Rosencrans, who
studied 93 women and nine men
whose mothers abused them as chil-
dren.
"Society does not want to give
up the warm, cozy image of Mom.
My theory is that women ought to
be held accountable."
Most of the victims abused alco-
hol or drugs or had eating disorders,
she said. Collectively, her subjects
spent 639 years in therapy.
"This happens, this really does
happen," said Rosencrans. "And the
public needs to know it happens, so
they can bring this group of human
beings into the human fold."
Correction:
Frederick Douglass did not write "The Souls of Black Folk." W. E. B. DuBois authored the book. This was incorrectly
in yesterday's Daily.
Friday
U Brown Bag Series: Fetal Alco-
hol Syndrome, sponsored by
the Office of Academic
Multicultural Initiatives, West
Engineering, Women's Studies
Lounge, noon
Q Chinese Christian Fellowship,
meeting and speakerJames Moi
on dating and relationships,
Dana Building, Room 1040,
7:30 p.m.
U Korean Campus Crusade for
Christ, fellowship meeting,
Campus Chapel, 1236
Washtenaw Ct., 8 p.m.
U Library Orientation, Alan Pol-
lard, head of Slavic and East
European Division of the
Graduate Library will show in-
terested student research tools,
Harlan Hatcher Graduate Li-
brary, Room 110, 4 p.m.
O Niniutsu Club, IM Building.
boat house, men 3, 4, and 5
p.m.; women 3:30, 4:30, and
5:30 p.m.
Q Safewalk Nighttime Safety
Walking Service, UGLi, lobby,
936-1000, 8 p.m.-11:30 p.m.
Q Saint Mary Student Parish,
Serving Hunger Coalition, 3:15
p.m.; Departure for Student
Retreat, 4:45 p.m.; Rosary
Group, 7:30 p.m., 331 Thomp-
son St.
Q Shorin-Ryu Karate-Do Club,
everyone welcome, CCRB,
Room 2275, 6 p.m.
Q Students Concerned About
Animal Rights, meeting, Cafe
Fino, 1214S. University Ave.,
5 p.m.
Q Tae Kwon Do Club, everyone
welcome, CCRB, Room 2275,
7:30 p.m.
Q Weekly Bridge Game, Dupli-
cate Bridge Club, Michigan
America, sponsored by Puerto
Rico Solidarity, Hispanic Law
Students Association, Latino/a
Studies, Angell Hall, Audito-
rium C, 11:30 a.m.
U Safewalk Nighttime Safety
Walking Service, UGLi, lobby,
936-1000, 8 p.m.-11:30 p.m.
Sunday
Q Alpha Phi Omega, Pledge meet-
ing,56 p.m.; Chapter meeting
6:45 p.m.; Michigan Union,
Kuenzel Room
U Christian Life Church Sunday
Service, School of Education,
Schorling Auditorium, 11 a.m.
O Four Quarters, multimedia
open forum, People Dancing
Studios, 111 Third St., 3 p.m.
U Palestinian Dabkeh, sponsored
by Arab-American Students
Association, Michigan Union,
Anderson Room D, 7 p.m.
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