The Michigan Daily - Tuesday, March 1, 1994-3
.Women's History Month falls short of local expectations
Ann Arbor campus
participation lacking
in planning of
month's events
By JUDITH KAFKA
DAILY STAFF REPORTER
Women's History Month begins
today with barely a ripple at the Uni-
versity, let alone a big splash.
While various women's groups
and organizations are sponsoring
Residents
. haggle over
future of
A2 airport
By JAMES M. NASH
DAILY STAFF REPORTER
Pilots and local business leaders
want a bigger, modern airport to
replace the deteriorating Ann Arbor
Municipal Airport.
Residents near the South State
Street facility want to squelch the
drone of planes landing on the run-
way. A larger airport may not solve
the noise problem, they worry.
And several members of the City
Council hesitate to pour money into
either of two proposals. One would
expand and modernize the airport
with city, state and federal funds;
the other would realign the runway
away from homes.
The conflicting interests gener-
ated some friction at a special ses-
sion of council last night.
* Sporting buttons with the slo-
gan, "I Support a Friendly Airport,"
a succession of some 20 speakers
criticized the council for balking at
plans to renovate the airport.
A smaller contingent asked the
council only to approve a noise-
abatement plan - not the $2.4 mil-
lion expansion proposal.
The discussion was prompted by
the release of a noise-compatibility
* study by airport consultant Coffman
Associates, Inc. The study - au-
thorized by the council in 1989 for
$214,000 - suggested that the run-
way be realigned away from a clus-
ter of housing developments near
Ellsworth Road.
Councilmember Thais A.
Peterson (D-1st Ward) said the
study's recommendations came as
"sort of a shock." She said the coun-
cil never planned to reconfigure the
airport, rather only to reduce noise
levels.
"It was never the intent of coun-
cil to change the airport alignment,"
Peterson said.
John S. Wolter, a button-bearing
former member of the Airport Ad-
visory Committee, disputed
Peterson's statement. He said re-
alignment has been under consider-
ation for five years.
Other speakers said simply re-
aligning the runway is an incom-
plete solution. Noting the
University's plan to fly medical air-
craft from an expanded Ann Arbor
Airport, they urged the council to
move quickly for an expansion, 95
percent of which would be funded
by state and federal sources.
Rejecting the expansion proposal
would "basically lock the airport
into the horse-and-buggy era," said
John Day, an attorney for the Ann
Arbor Airport Business Association.
"What you need is a modern, high-
tech airport to bring revenues and
resources into the community."
But William J. Pollard, a mem-
berof the Airport Advisory Com-
mittee, expressed concerns that a
larger airport could be deafening
"Noise is the issue. The city has to
balance the rights of 300 to 400
pilots to put their noisy machines in
the sky against the rights of 100,000
citizens."
.. .
events throughout March, no cohe-
sive theme or plan for the month has
been established by the University.
"It seems like there's a lot of things
going on, even if they aren't through
the University," said Loretta Lee, chair
of the Women's Issues Commission,
a panel of the Michigan Student As-
sembly.
Lee said the commission will be
coordinating an information day on
the Diag for women's groups March
21.
For students who are interested in
celebrating Women's History Month
in a more structured manner, the
University's Flint campus is holding
numerous events throughout March.
Under the theme of "Sex, Power
and Violence," Flint's Women's Cen-
ter has arranged lectures, conferences
and a video series on topics ranging
from violence against women in the
home to women's plight in the Balkans.
Emberly Cross, counseling line
coordinator at the Sexual Assualt Pre-
vention and Awareness Center
(SAPAC), is giving a guest lecture at
the Flint campus later this week.
SAPAC, while not doing anything
specifically on women's history, is
sponsoring Sexual Assualt Preven-
tion Month, which begins Friday.
"I don't really know why so little
is done in Ann Arbor," Cross said,
adding that after living here for eight
years she has learned to expect little
campus participation in Women's
History Month.
The University is sponsoring one
event through the International Insti-
tute -- a symposium on women of
color to be held March 12.
However, while the event will be
open to the public, the symposium is
for secondary school teachers and not
geared to the general Ann Arbor com-
munity.
The Women's Studies Program is
hosting brown-bag discussions, but
no other events have been planned
yet.
Several local organizations also are
participating in the month's celebra-
tion with their own programming,
The Center for Education of
Women will be hosting a lecture
Thursday on Nobel Prize women in
science.
The Commission for Women, a
20-year-old organization that deals
with women in academics and ca-
reers, will have a conference on the
history of the women's movement
March 16.
LET THE SUN SHINE IN
begins drive
to collect funds
from '94 seniors
By ZACHARY M. RAIMI
DAILY STAFF REPORTER
Just as seniors are preparing to
end their financial obligations to the
University, they will be hit with an-
other plea for money.
Beginning Friday, Michigan
Telefund staff members will be call-
ing all seniors to ask for a donation.
The committee asks for a minimum
contribution of $19.94, but will accept
any amount students offer.
With this year's theme of "Will U
Be The Champion?", committee
members said they hope to raise
$94,000.
Members of the Senior Pledge
Program Committee will be in the
Fishbowl and North Campus Com-
mons today and tomorrow, from 10
a.m. until 3 p.m., to inform seniors of
their plan to raise money for the Uni-
versity.
Mark Brotherton, assistant man-
ager of Michigan Telefund and advi-
sor to the Senior Pledge Program
Committee, said students have a
chance to feel like a champion if they
donate.
"By giving something back to the
University now that the seniors are
about to graduate, both them and the
University are going to be champi-
ons," he said.
But LSA senior Joel Shapiro said
he plans to bypass the champion feel-
ing. He said, "I'm not going to be
giving money. ... It feels like I'm
writing a check to (the University)
every other day."
Brotherton, who acknowledged
this problem, said the money goes
toward good causes such as maintain-
ing campus computing sites, estab-
lishing scholarships, financing guest
lecturers and other items.
He said the telefund is the most
effective way to raise money. "By
using Telefund, we are able to raise a
lot more money to do a lot more good
for students," Brotherton added.
Jaison Smith, LSA senior and co-
chair of the Senior Pledge Program
Committee, said donating money is
essential to the University because it
funds important student services, such
as keeping the computing sites open
24 hours.
LSA senior Barbara Loewenihal
said she plans to donate "a little (be-
cause) it's a good cause."
Brotherton said he does not think
the committee's fundraising goal of
$94,000 is too ambitious. The com-
mittee has taken several steps to mar-
ket its cause. For example, detailed
postcards were sent to seniors explain-
ing the program's purpose, and the
committee will make a presentation at
Sunday's basketball game.'
Engineering senior Ed Andrews studies as sunlight beams into the darkness of the
SARAH WHITING/Daily
Law Library Reading Room.
Students penalized in S. Quad chair theft
By HOPE CALATI
DAILY STAFF REPORTER
Two green lounge chairs found their
way across campus last semester with
the help of an Engineering sophomore
and an LSA first-year student.
Daniel Cusmano andNeil Jobst each
stole a lounge chair from the seventh
floor Huber House lounge in South
Quad in September. The pair plead no
contest to a misdemeanor charge.
The two also had their case brought
under the code.
The case was referred to Judicial
Advisor Mary Lou Antieau by an assis-
tant director of student relations for
Housing. The case was handled under
the code because the students were not
living in the residence halls.
Antieau determined sanctions upon
the request of Cusmano and Jobst be-
cause the action did not warrant sus-
pension or expulsion.
One of the students signed an ac-
knowledgment form and a release for
Student Legal Services, who was rep-
resenting him in the criminal
proceedings.Both students admitted
they stole the chairs and returned them
undamaged..
A history of restricting speech: U Penn and Michigan
By DAVID ADOX
FOR THE DAILY
In the wake of several widely-
publicized incidents involving free-
dom of expression at the University
of Pennsylvania (Penn), Penn offi-
cials have contacted the University's
Office of Student Affairs to gather
information about the Statement of
Student Rights and Responsibilities,
the University's code of non-academic
conduct.
One Penn incident in March 1992
involving Eden Jacobowitz, a student
who called a group of Black women
"water buffalo" and then told them,
"If you're looking for a party, there's
a zoo a mile from here."
The student was charged with ra-
cial harassment and put on residential
probation. Jacobowitz was required
to write an apology to the women and
to design and present a diversity-
awareness project. A note was placed
on his transcript for one year indicat-
ing he violated the school's racial
harassment policy.
The "water buffalo incident" was
a catalyst for discussion of free speech
issues on the Penn campus. As a re-
sult, the Committee on Strengthening
the Community was formed. The com-
mittee recommended that free speech
be protected, and in November, Penn's
speech code was suspended.
However, precisely what consti-
tutes a violation of free speech on
university campuses has been highly
debated.
Several incidents at the Univer-
sity of Michigan in 1987 brought free
speech issues to the forefront on cam-
pus. During that year, a group of
unidentified individuals distributed
fliers declaring "open season" on
Blacks, and called them "saucer lips,
porch monkeys, and jigaboos." In
another incident a student hung a Ku
Klux Klan banner outside a dorm
window.
These events led to a 1989 prece-
dent-setting case, John Doe vs. Uni-
versity of Michigan, where an anony-
mous University graduate student chal-
lenged the constitutionality of the
University's speech code because he
feared it stifled
classroom discus- 'The stude
sion of controver-
sial theories per- to say wha
taming to the bio- want on th
logical differences
between races and - they al
sexes.b
The federal dis- be
trict court ruled, - Steph
"However laud- Pent
able or appropriate
an effort this may to t
have been, the
Court found that
the Policy swept within its scope a
significant amount of 'verbal con-
duct' or 'verbal behavior' which is
unquestionably protected speech
under the First Amendment."
Assistant General Counsel to the
University Dan Sharphorn said,
"There was an immediate repeal of
the code in response to the Doe case,
and an interim code, which was more
narrow, was established."
Several court rulings at other uni-
versities between 1989 and 1993 se-
riously questioned the constitutional-
ity of codes restricting the expression
of hateful or offensive ideas at public
institutions.
Nevertheless, 28.1 percent of pub-
lic universities enforce some type of
language rule concerning offensive
speech.
"From our office, we thought we
ought to make changes to the code on
the basis of court decisions,"
Sharphorn said.
In September 1993 the University
ultimately dropped all restrictions on
1I always thought that if (the speech code) was
challenged, it would be declared Illegal.'
- Rachel Citron
Penn senior
nts are free
Itever they
is campus
gays have
en Steinberg
e's assistant
the president
the expression of
offensive speech.
Sharphorn
mentioned, how-
ever, that the Uni-
versity does have
a policy regarding
speech - the
Statement on
Freedom of
Speech and Artis-
tic Expression. It
emphasizes the
need to protect the
rights of both
are unaware that their right to free
speech is not legally protected on their
campus.
"I always thought that if it was
challenged, it would be declared ille-
gal," Penn senior Rachel Citron said.
Although Penn enforced a speech
code for many years, Stephen
Steinberg, Penn's assistant to the
president said, "The students are free
to say whatever they want on this
campus - they always have been:"
A committee composed of Penn
students and staff members has been
formed to examine the issues sur-
rounding speech on campus.
When asked how a university
ought to react to incidents of offen-
sive speech such as those at Michigan
and Penn, Beth Hirschfelder, chair of
the committee said, "Can you expel a
student for that kind of behavior? I
don't think you can."
"In that situation, you have to fight
hate speech with speech in a positive
manner. That's more effective than
saying, 'We're going to condemn you
for this,"' Hirschfelder said.
Michigan Student Assembly Presi-
dent Craig Greenberg said, "I'm just as
offended or just as mad as anyone else
when illogical epitaphs are said."
However, Greenberg added, "It's a
horrendous precedent where universi-
ties attempt to enforce policies which
are unquestionably unconstitutional."
In a statement, University Provost
and Executive Vice President for
Academic Affairs Gilbert Whitaker
said, "Many speech codes were en-
acted as a response to serious de-
meaning acts or statements which cre-
ated problems on many campuses.
These codes were enacted by people
with the very best of intentions to deal
with these breaches of civility.
"Even though there have been a
few examples of serious misuse of the
codes, they have at least brought to
everyone's attention the need for a
climate of civility and shared values.
I would hope that such codes are
replaced by shared concerns for the
feelings of others," Whitaker added.
speakers and demonstrators to express
their ideas.
The policy states that people who
"interfere unduly" with the freedom
of expression of the speaker will be
dealt with using "necessary measures"
that may include their removal from
the area.
Unlike the University of Michi-
gan, Penn is a private institution and
therefore is not required to operate
within the limits of the First Amend-
ment. However, some Penn students
I
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INFORMATION FAIR
SAturday, March 5, 1994
10:00AM1:0 PM
*Michigan Union
Group Meetings
Q Arab-American Students' As-
sociation, Arabic conversation
hour,Amer'son State, 8:30p.m.
rl A Aa UsAAPI n T .L. ' nn fl i_
" Undergraduate Law Club,
Michigan Union, Room 4121,
10:30 a.m.-1 p.m.
" Women's Rugby Practice,
reer Planning and Placement,
3200 Student Activities Build-
ing, 4:10-5:30 p.m.
Q "The Snake and The Tree:
p.m.-8 a.m.
U Campus Information Center,
Michigan Union, 763-INFO;
events info., 76-EVENT; film
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Au students
Information Fair
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