The Michigan Daily - Thursday, November 11, 1993 - 3
Students learn
Japanese
management
techniu es
By ADAM ANGER
DAILY STAFF REPORTER
To help American industrial managers better com-
pete in the global market, the University of Michigan
Japan Technology Management Program (JTMP) has
received $1.3 million in federal funding to educate
students on Japanese management techniques.
The program hopes to achieve its long-range goal-
to help America compete in aglobaleconomy-through
teaching Japanese language, culture and technology
management, which organizers say will prepare them to
do business with the Japanese.
"Companies are telling us they are continually ex-
" panding into the global market, particularly Japan,"
JTMP Director Jeffrey Liker said.
With funding from JTMP, students can take advan-
tage of one of following:
fa fellowship during the summer where students
take intensive courses in Japanese language and culture
that includes tuition, fees and a living stipend;
an academic year of intensive courses in culture
and management offered to masters and doctoral stu-
dents that includes tuition, fees and a living stipend;
an internship in a Japanese company for students
who are fluent in Japanese that includes transportation
expenses and a living stipend; or,
a fellowship that includes tuition, fees and a sti-
Pend for doctoral students to focus their dissertation on
- some aspect of Japanese technology management.
Doctoral student Durward Sobek was granted a fel-
lowship as a research assistant to study how cars are
designed differently in U.S. and Japanese companies.
By visiting companies in Japan and working with
their engineers, Sobek said he developeda deeperunder-
standing of how the Japanese do business.
"I understand better the cultural influences on our
work. (JTMP) has the potential to influence the way
Americans conduct business. We have plans to develop
training materials for MBA and Engineering students."
Associate Proffesor of Japanese language and litera-
ture Ken Ito said Japanese courses at this Universityhave
usually been designed to meet the needs of LSA students,
but this program focuses on meeting the needs of those
in technology management.
JTMP is also involved with Ann Arbor's Industrial
Technology Institute and is developing courses and
consulting packages for companies to help educate tech-
nology managers about Japanese methods.
"During the first two years of the program, we learned
a lot about how large Japanese companies manage the
technology development process," Liker said. "Now our
primary goal is to disseminate what we've learned and
expand our student programs.
LSA senior Cyndi Wells studied in Japan for a year
and had an internship at a Japanese chemical company.
"I learned what it is like in Japan and was able to watch
how people relate to others at work," she said.
"It was interesting to see how the Japanese treat
women in the workplace. My boss had to tell the guys to
behave since I was an American women and not used to
.he treatment," she added.
Author recalls
life, inspiration of
Arthur Ashe
MARY KOUKHAB/Daily
Chaim Potok, author of 'The Chosen,' speaks to students at Hillel last night.
Novelst poet Potok elicits
CreaiVity from confrontation
By NATE HURLEY
DAllY STAFF REPORTER
Author Arnold Rampersad re-
called the final months of Arthur
Ashe's life yesterday in one of his
first public lectures since the tennis
star's tragic death in February.
"I feel his death and also the griev-
ing of his wife and family acutely,"
said Rampersad, who co-wrote "Days
of Grace: A Memoir," the best-sell-
ing book detailing thelatetennisstar's
life.
Rampersad described his task of
co-writing Arthur Ashe's autobiog-
raphy and elaborated on the many
areas of Ashe's life the pair discussed
during the writing of the book.
He told a crowd of almost 100
peopleuthat he considered himself to
be an "autobiographer" of the book
that is written in the first person.
Ashe did not intend for the book to
be personal. Rampersad said Ashe
once told him, "This book has to be
about race, you know, not about me."
Rampersad said Ashe came off as
cold and aloof to many people, but
called him "a compulsively kind,
thoughtful deeply humane person."
Rampersad detailed the difficul-
ties he had interviewing Ashe during
the months before the book came out.
"I would feel guilty about press-
ing Arthur too long,"he admitted. "I
could not alienate him with abrasive
questions or remarks or wound him in
the face of his illness."
Rampersad discovered a crucial
pointin Ashe's life- the death ofhis
mother. "I have thought about my
mother every day of my life," Ashe
told Rampersad during one of their
two-hour interview sessions. "More
than anything else, I would love to see
my mother again."
Ashe was seven years old when
his mother died. Rampersad said
Ashe's daughter was about the same
age at the time of his AIDS-related
death. The last chapter of the book,
the largest segment written by Ashe,
was a letter to his daughter.
"Arthur speaks directly to his
daughter and to all young African
Americans," Rampersad said. "It
would be registered as Arthur's final
triumph over pain and suffering."
Rampersad compared the book to
St. Augstine's "Confessions."
Finding a sin for Ashe to confess
was difficult, he admitted. He had no
affairs in 16 years of marriage and no
crises of religious faith. "We needed
a sin in a book overshadowed by
death," Rampersad explained.
"Finally, a sin appeared.... The
sin was about sitting on the fence in a
time of great moral crises. He was
watting tennis balls in manicured
white tennis courts in the 1960s.
Arthur admitted to me he had felt a
deep shame in this respect."
During the racially-volatile '60s,
there was tension between Ashe and
the Black community of his home-
town, Richmond, Va.
"It was clear that Arthur as a
grown-up had lost. his Southern
speech, although he assured me it
returned whenever he set foot in Rich-
mond," Rampersad said.
"Whites loved Arthur Ashe, but
many Blacks had never forgiven him
for earning and maintaining a rela-
tionship with whites," Rampersad
said.
Toward the end of his life Ashe
faced pressure from USA Today to
publicize that he had the AIDS virus.
"He was very, very angry about
being outed as he put it," Rampersad
said, adding he, unlike Ashe, approved
of the newspaper's decision.
"I believe in therights of the press,"
he said. "I think it is a goad thing the
world found outhe had AIDS. It gave
him the opportunity to speak out on
AIDS and it gave the world the oppor-
tunity to honor him."
Ashe remained optimistic about
his condition.
"He was not afraid of death. He
was alwaysawareof death. He thought
a cure for AIDS might happen in his
lifetime," Rampersad said.
In a question-and-answer period,
Rampersad was asked of his regrets.
"I regretted that he died and we
never became friends," he said. "I
think he could not make another
friend, knowing he was going to die."
Rampersad was well-received by
the audience of students, faculty mem-
bers and community members.
Doctoral candidate Michelle
Johnson said she enjoyed the lecture
and learned much about the book.
"I still wanted to know more about
the cultural content."
Terrie Epstein, an assistant pro-
fessoYr in the School of Education,
said, "I was taken with his eloquence
and I was taken by his last remark
about how they never became
friends."
By RACHEL SCHARFMAN
DAILY STAFF REPORTER
Award-wining novelist Chaim Potok regaled
a crowd of young and old alike with stories and
theory last night at Hillel Auditorium.
Potok, author of eight best-selling novels
including "The Chosen" and "The Gift of Asher
Lev" expounded upon the major theme of his
work, "cultural confrontation."
"Creativity can be elicited out of confronta-
tion," he said, and judging from his expansive
compendium of works, Potok has experienced
his fair share. The most blatant manifestation of
his personal "confrontation" can be read in "My
Name is Asher Lev," a book which Potok calls "a
metaphor for my work as a writer."
Many of Potok's works have been represen-
tative of his life experiences, which are as di-
verse as the characters of his novels and plays.
Born, raised and educated in New York as an
Orthodox Jew, Potok graduated from Yeshiva
University with a B.A. in English literature,
having fallen in love with "that alien goddess
called fiction" at age 16.
Potok was then ordained as a rabbi after four
years at the Jewish Theological Seminary.
Deciding that he did not, in fact, wish to be a
rabbi, Potok then went on to the University of
Pennsylvania. He earned a Ph.D. in philoso-
phy, fascinated by the secular theories from
which he was sheltered throughout his highly
structured upbringing.
After receiving his doctorate, Potok served
as a U.S. Army chaplain in Korea. His experi-
ences inthe Far East are codified, years later, in
his novel, "The Book of Lights."
Acting not only as author, Potok has also
been involved in the behind-the-scenes process
of writing, having served as editor in chief of
the Jewish Publication Society. While there
Potok published "The Jewish Catalog," a con-
temporary manual on Jewish life drawing upon
the theme of tension.
Potok wove his theories of core-to-core
confrontation and periphery-to-core confron-
tation with, amusing anecdotes to a captive
audience.
Much like his literature, his litany kept the
attentive crowd wrapped in his spell for more
than an hour.
Union workers threaten to strike GM
DETROIT (AP) -- General Mo-
tors Corp. could face a paralyzing
strike by 20,000 unionized electrical
workers as soon as Saturday.
Though not a formal strike dead-
*ine, the International Union of Elec-
trical Workers told GM Tuesday it
will let its current contract, which has
been extended, lapse at 11:59 p.m.
Friday if no new agreementis reached
by then.
"It's definitely not a strike dead-
line, but all our locals have authorized
a strike and are prepared to strike if
needed," union representative Steve
Hahn said yesterday.
The IUE represents workers in
nine GM plants in Ohio, Mississippi,
New York and New Jersey.
In additional to electrical compo-
nents such as batteries, air condition-
ing compressors, power antennas and
windshield wiper motors, the IUE
represents workers at a truck plant
and an engine plantin Moraine, Ohio.
The IUE has struck GM only once,
in 1958.The walkoutcameafter work-
ing four months without a contract.
GM spokesperson Tom Pyden said
talks have been "progressing in an
orderly fashion" and acontract termi-
nation notice is not unusual.
"We're still very hopeful we'll be
able to reach an agreement within the.
time frame that's been established,"
Pyden said.
Looking for Terrance
At about 10 p~m. Monday, a caller
reported to the University Depart-
ment of Public Safety (DPS) a suspi-
cious person in the Chemistry Build-
ing. The suspect was allegedly wan-
dering through the third-floor area
and, when challenged by staff, stated
he was looking for a maintenance
man named Terrance and would be
leaving. The report states the subject
was looking for cans. Upon investi-
gation, it was discovered $25 had
been stolen from the building.
Negative exposure
A woman reported that a man near
Mason Hall had approached and ha-
rassedher and her friend at about 1:30
a.m. Wednesday. The suspect came
from the direction of Ashely's and
allegedly followed the two women.
He made an obscene comment and
then began to remove his pants. The
woman told DPS she screamed and
ran for an emergency phone, and the
man fled from the scene. DPS officers
identified and questioned the man.
He admitted to exposing himself and
was released pending authorization
by the prosecutor.
Stadium vandalism
Michigan Stadium staff discov-
ered one goal post missing and laying
friends."
upright on the field when they checked
the stadium Friday morning. In addi-
tion, two flags with a total value of
$505 were stolen.
Early Saturday morning, a DPS
officer found six people near Gate 9
of the stadium and advised them they
would be charged with trespassing if
they entered the stadium. Officers
later found three individuals on the
field heading toward the north goal
post and attempting to climb the post.
Upon the officers' arrival, the sus-
pects attempted to leave, but were
apprehended and released pending
contact with the prosecutor.
Dennis Kind, a stadium employee,
said vandalism occurs often at the
stadium because of the difficulty in
securing the arena. He said vandals
gain entry by climbing over the fence.
- By Ronnie Glassberg
Daily Staff Reporter
Student groups
Q Amnesty International, weekly
meeting, Dana Building, Room
1040,7:30 p.m.
Q Archery Club, meeting and
practice, Sports Coliseum, 6-
10 p.m.
U Campus Crusade for Christ,
weekly meeting, Dental Build-
ing, Kellog Aud., 7-9 p.m.
Q Gospel Chorale Rehearsal,
Trotter House Auditorium, 7
p.m.
Q Hebrew Table, sponsored by the
American Movement for Israel,
Michigan Union, Tap Room,
noon.'
Q Inter Varsity Christian Fellow-
ship, large group meeting,
Bursley, East Lounge, 7 p.m.
U People Opposing Weapons Re-
search & Promoting Eco-
nomic Conversion, weekly
meeting, Angell Hall, Room
444C, 8-10 p.m.
Q ,ProjectOutreach, mass meet-
commission 331 Thompson, 7
p.m.
U Taiwanese American Students
for Awareness, Taiwan table
and community service, Michi-
gan Union, Anderson Room,
7:30 p.m.
Events
0 Blood Battle, sponsored by Al-
phaPhiOmega, Markley, South
Pit, 2-7:30 p.m.
U Education Job Search, spon-
sored by Career Planning and
Placement, 3200 Student Ac-
tivitiesBuilding, 5:10-6:30p.m.
U Feminist Paradigms in Politi-
cal Science, sponsored by the
women's caucus ofthe Depart-
ment of Political Science,
Hutchins Hall, Room 218, 4
p.m.
U Generating Career Ideas, spon-
sored by Career Planning and
Placement, 3200 Student Ac-
tivities Building, 4:10-5 p.m.
--- .....1-.SL i . -., .iV .
U Reflecting on 1993: The Inter-
national Year of the World's
Indigenous Peoples, sponsored
by the Office of Academic
Multicultural Initiatives, Michi-
gan League, Henderson Room,
7-9 p.m.
U Remembering Forgotten
Texts: Commoner Discourse
on Political Economy, speaker:
Tetsuo Najita, sponsored by the
Center forJapanese Studies, lec-
tureseries, Lane Hall Commons
Room, noon.
Q Russian Meddling in the Inde-
pendentMinded States of the
Former Soviet Union, spon-
sored by the Center for Russian
andEastEuropean Studies, lec-
ture series, CMENAS Library,
9-10:30 a.m.
U Study Abroad in Asia, spon-
sored by the International Cen-
ter, 7-8:30 p.m.
Student services
t~tICE ijigatn Dalig
Do You need more student in your group or organizaion?
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