4 - The Michigan Daily - Tuesday, April 5, 1994
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'We made Sarajevo real nice, but the rest of the place is
going to pot.'
-an unnamed Western official, on the war in Bosnia-Herzegovina
Truth in
420 Maynard
Ann Arbor, MI 48109
Edited and managed
by students at the
University of Michigan
JESSIE HALLADAY
Editor in Chief
SAM GooDsTm
FLIr WAwESs
Editorial Page Editors
Unless otherwise noted, unsigned editorials reflect the opinion of a majority of the Daily's editorial board.
All other articles, letters, and cartoons do not necessarily reflect the opinion of The Michigan Daily.
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GreetingSandsations
Greenberg, Kight hand over mantle to Neenan, Stern
Today will witness the end of an era and upcoming year. Planning to follow an
perhaps the beginning of a new one as pand on the path that Greenberg and l
Michigan Student Assembly President Craig have established, Neenan and Stern
Greenberg and Vice President Brian Kight the spotlight at a crucial time - it is 1
hand over the reigns of power to fellow them to continue rebuilding MSA'sc
Michigan Party members Julie Neenan and ibility, to work toward new aims expr
Jacob Stern. It has been quite a year for in their platform and to bring the Mic
MSA under the leadership of Greenberg and Party's goals to fruition. Some of t
Kight, and they deserve to be commended as goals include fighting the Diag Po
they step down from office. implementing the New All-Campust
Both Greenberg and Kight have dedicated stitution, having a non-voting student rr
an enormous amount of time to increasing, ber on the Board of Regents, working
and indeed establishing, the legitimacy of the wards a safer campus and amending -
Assembly. Regardless of whether one agrees ultimately abolishing - the restrictive
with their political beliefs - and recently it superfluous code. Neenan and Stern's;
has been hard to do so -it cannot be denied ous campaigning and organized plat
that the two of them have been successful in suggest that they will be successful inr
expanding MSA's reach and influence among ing these changes. Hopefully, the ap
the student body. among students will begin to diminis
Voting in MSA elections has increased, MSA continues to become more organ
although only slightly, over the past year. But and focused.
more important than mere turnout, there was A concern for the new term is M!
a certain excitement in the air for the election connectionwith theAnnArbor Tenants U
just two weeks ago when 8 parties ran over 80 (AATU). MSA's current relationship
candidates for 24 open Assembly positions. them is rocky at best; communication
And the mandate was clear - the Michigan tweenthe two organizations is nill. The M
Party not only gained seats in MSA, but their gan Party threatens to exacerbate these
presidential candidates won by a landslide. relations by continually using its pow
Craig and Brian deserve much of the credit thwart the will of the Assembly in its que
for this. The duo's treatment of two issues rid the tenants' union of its entitlement st
demands special attention. Solid and sub- This campaign promise is both harmful
stantive amendments were proposed, with ill-conceived, as it fails to acknowledge
Craig and Brian's leadership, to the code. AATU is a valuable service for students
Moreover, Brian's constant communication warrants extra appropriations. Neenan
with the administration helped tone down Stern should reconsider depleting AA
the drafting of the alcohol policy. funds until they can guarantee an effe
Above all, they have clearly exhibited an alternative. Hopefully, they will use thei
organized, professional and successful ad- judgement and work towards correcting
ministration during the past year in MSA. source of contention.
More than any policy decision, their profes- Although we regret to see Greenberg
sionalism has increased the legitimacy and Kight walk away from what has been a
credibility of MSA by leaps and bounds and encouraging year for MSA, we embrac
will be missed. new leaders who bring with them su
As we say farewell to Greenberg and Kight, leadership skills, solid goals and the pro
we welcome Julie Neenan and Jacob Stern, as of continuing MSA's trend towards impr
they offer great promise for MSA in the ment. We wish them good luck.
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Michigan: Reca
State refuses to comply with
U ndaunted by an executive order from the
Clinton administration, Michigan is one
of several states refusing to comply with the
federal mandate that Medicaid fund abortions
for victims of rape or incest. The order re-
quired that all states bring their policies on
abortion funding into compliance with fed-
eral guidelines by March 31. Ignoring the
order, Michigan has refused to change its
state Medicaid policy, a policy based on a
1988 voter initiative that ended Michigan's
funding of abortions except to save the life of
the mother. State officials maintain that they
have no intentions of compliance. Planned
Parenthood along with other abortion-rights
organizations have promised to take Michi-
gan and other recalcitrant states to court,
seeking injunctions that would force the state
governments to acquiesce.I
While Michigan has offered no explana-
tion for defying the order, other resisting
states feel that the mandate conflicts with
state laws and even states' rights, or that they
have current policies that work better without
federal intervention. Other opposition stems
from the' belief that the number of women
affected by the national order (an estimated
1,000 to 1,500) is too minuscule for a federal
requirement. This seems difficult to believe.
Whatever reasons Michigan has for refus-
ing to comply with the executive order, it is
imperative that the state government recog-
nize its responsibility to all of its constituents,
impoverished women included. Numbers, in
this case, are not what is important. It is the
underlying principle of the executive order
and the social and economic circumstances of
the imnnverished that the state needE tn nn-
mc-itrant one
Clinton order on Medicaid
sider. Michigan is home to a population of
women who suffer from rape and incest and
who can't afford to have an abortion. By not
conceding women these resources, the state
forces women to turn to illegitimate channels
to acquire an abortion - often endangering
her life. Clearly, the state has an overarching
interest in protecting the lives of these poor
women.
These low-income women are not only
victims of incest or rape, but also made vic-
tims of the system. The state is assuming an
oppressive position here, penalizing those
women who are economically immobile, and
who are made to suffer the ugly reminder of
rape or incest - a reminder that doesn't
haunt those who simply can afford an abor-
tion. Michigan's state government needs to
recognize that no woman, regardless of eco-
nomic class, deserves to live without such a
gruesome reminder.
We should all be concerned that our state
government has elected to ignore an execu-
tive order. It is the duty and responsibility of
the State to comply with an order given by the
President, for federal law supersedes state
law. By ignoring federal mandates, Michigan
and other non-complying states only tie up
the court system and keep governments at
both the state and federal levels from moving
to address other important issues.
Our state government, alongwith the other
outstanding states, must accept the responsi-
bility to serve the needs of their constituen-
cies, and move immediately to change poli-
cies to allow Medicaid funded abortions for
the poor. It is the duty of the Michigan state
anvernment to surrender its misguided stance.
Staff shouldn't abuse
position to impose
religious beliefs
To the Daily:
While lunch was being
served on Tuesday, March 29,
in the Couzens Hall dining
room, a Couzens resident staff
member stepped onto a chair
and began to read from
biblical scriptures in a voice
that carried throughout the
dining room area. The staff
member was removed from
the cafeteria approximately
twenty minutes after she
began her religious
proselytizing. The Housing
Division regrets that this
incident occurred.
The Housing Division, as
an entity of a public
institution, makes a very clear
distinction between what is
appropriate behavior of an
individual acting in an official
capacity as a University
official as opposed to the
activities, beliefs or practices
of the individual outside of his
or her employment status. As
a University employee, it is
completely inappropriate for a
resident staff member to
convey religious beliefs or
proselytize in public to
residents who have the right
to expect that staff members
will not impose their
personal beliefs in a manner
unrelated to valid job
expectations and boundaries.
Any effort to impose
personal religious or political
beliefs while acting in the
role of a staff member is a
serious abuse of the position,
and the Housing Division
considers such conduct
unacceptable.
The resident staff
member's supervisors are in
the process of determining
what action will result from
this inappropriate conduct.
THE UNIVERSITY
HOUSING DIVISION
College Republicans
respond to accusations
To the Daily:
As the College Republican
who developed the "It's the
Economy, stupid" flyer, I will
be happy to answer the
charges made by Ms. Dana
List on March 24th in the
Daily. Ms. List's criticisms
are of questionable
intelligence and her pride is
obviously ignorant bliss.
First, Ms. List claims that I
was taunting the voters, which
is unfounded. All I did was
use the Democrats' rhetoric
against them. I doubt Ms. List
considered James Carville's
original usage of the phrase as
taunting. It was used, in quote
form, to answer the baseless
It's been a great year
To the Daily:
It has been a pleasure to
serve as President of the
Michigan Student Assembly
for the past year. When I first
took over, I did not realize the
political and bureaucratic
barriers that existed at the
University. But even in the
face of such obstacles, MSA
has achieved a lot in the past
year; not only have we
accomplished such goals as
increasing funding to student
organizations by $20,000 and
improving our lobbying
efforts on behalf of the
student body, but we have
also heightened the
University's interest and
awareness of MSA and
increased our participation in
the University community.
However, MSA can still
improve greatly.
Like any other student
organization, MSA can only
continue to move forward
with active student
participation. Being involved
in MSA for the past two years
has taught me more than I
have learned in any classroom
at the University; the "real
world" experiences I've had
and friends I've made will be
the most lasting contributions
and memories of my college
years. It is with this in mind
that I strongly encourage
everyone to get involved in
MSA. And, unlike popular
perception, to be active in
MSA you don't have to be
elected. There is so much for
MSA to do; being the
campus-wide student
government and unified voice
for the student body, we have
only begun to expand to our
proper role in the University
community. MSA is not only
expanding and improving its
American people to do what's
best for America whereas the
Democrats trust the
government to run our lives.
Third, if our flyers were so
bad, why didn't Ms. List
challenge their validity? The
fact is that Ms. List couldn't,
because our flyers provided
the factual truth about
Proposal A. The uninspired
"HEY YOU" flyers put out by
the College Democrats were a
failure and Ms. List can't
accept the enormous defeat
her party suffered on this
proposal.
Finally, Ms. List accuses
us of name calling. Ironic,
since right in her own letter
she calls us several names,
such as "sleazy" and
"hypocrites." So who is
doing the real name calling,
Ms. List? When Bill Clinton
won the Presidency I did not
write into the Daily whining
about it. I hope the
Democrats would follow that
example. Just because they
current activities, but is
willing and ready to take on
more. With the resources that
MSA possesses, it is the best
forum for any student to
achieve their goals. There is
no reason that your student
government shouldn't be the
strongest student organization
on campus, but it won't
happen without your active
support and participation.
It is with such participation
that MSA achieved what it did
this year. There are too many
of you to thank for helping
MSA and me that I cannot list
you all here. But, to all my
fellow students and others in
the University community
who I have worked with -
Thank You! Your advice,
support, criticism and hard
work has been priceless. To
Brian Kight, my Vice
President, a special thanks -
you could not receive enough
credit for your work over the
past four years in improving
MSA and protecting student
rights.
Finally, I wish Julie
Neenan and the rest of the
new MSA the best of luck in
the upcoming year. There is a
lot to be done, but I know
MSA can reach new heights if
all of MSA occasionally
overcomes its political barriers
and works collaboratively on
behalf of the student body. All
students want their rights
protected, safety on campus
improved and a student
regent; MSA can and will
accomplish such goals with
active student participation.
So, these are my last words
as MSA President - get
involved in MSA and have a
voice in the running of your
University. And, once again,
Thanks!
CRAIG GREENBERG
MSA President
and I found an interesting item
on the ballot. Supposedly
there are changes in the MSA
constitution (or their
equivalent thereof) to be
decided on. There was a
packet detailing the wording
of various articles, however
there was nothing that showed
how it was formerly stated.
Also, when I inquired as to if
there were any changes to
student group recognition, the
election monitor called MSA
to get a clarified answer. Not
only was she on the phone for
fifteen minutes being passed
from one person to another,
but they couldn't give a
straight answer to my
question. Finally, why were
these changes not made more
readily available for the
student population to see
before the moment that they
had to vote on their
ratification?
In the future, I certainly
hope that an organization that
claims to be for the students
test taking
Which of the following do you
think has a closer relationship to
SAT scores - your college grades,
or your parents' yearly income?
If you guessed your grades, you'd
be right, but not by very much. The
correlation between college grades
and the SAT is around .35, while the
relationshipbetween SATscoresand
your parents income is around .30.
According to the "1989 Profile of
SATand AchievementTestTakers,"
average verbal and math SAT scores
go up about 15 points for each
increase of $10,000 in income.
The Educational Testing Service,
which administers the SAT, has
claimed for years that it is not
coachable. Organizations like the
Princeton Review, which averages
score increases of 150-200 points,
have proven them wrong. The
Princeton Review also charges
around $800 for their course. It is
illegal to bribe your teachers to get
better grades, but the honest truth is
that you can buy an SAT score.
The SAT has recently undergone
a number of revisions after a decade
of much-deservedcriticism, but these
changes are unlikely to alter the most
disturbing problems of the exam.
(And in case you think it's over,
GRE scores correlate around.90 with
SAT scores, and the LSAT, MCAT
and GMAT have all of the same
familiar problems.) As David Owen
argued in "None of the Above: the
Myth Behind Scholastic Aptitude,"
the only real solution to the problem
is to eliminate the tests altogether.
The truth is that the SAT never
was very good at predicting college
grades. High school performance is
by far the best predictor of college
performance. Bowdion College in
Maine stopped requiring the SAT
because they found that only 31
percent of their honors graduates
scored above the class average on
the test, and 24 percent had scored
below the average.
The test also tends to work against
minorities andwomen. Womenscore
about 50 points lower on the math
SAT; counter to stereotypes, they
also score about 12 points lower
than men on the verbal section. Race
differences are even larger: African-
Americans on average score 95
points lower than white students on
the verbal portion and 105 points
lower on the math. However, black
students do better in college than
their SAT scores predict they will,
and women actually make better
grades in college on average than
men.
In 1988, the National Merit
Scholarship Corporation distributed
$23.7 million in scholarship funds in
what is probably the best-known
national scholarship competition.
What most people don't know is that
the first and most selective cutoff for
these scholarships is based on only
one criteria: PSAT scores. Minority
students are at least partially saved
by NMSC's Achievement
Scholarships, but women and low-
income kids are left on their own.
As a result, only 38 percent of
National Merit Finalists and Scholars
are women, compared with the 52
percent who take the SAT
nationwide. This means that women
lose out on about $3.3 million in
National Merit Scholarship money
every year --- more if you take into
account that they do betterincollege.
(In case you're wondering, this is
not a personal vendetta -I hold this
opinion despite the $2,000 National
Merit awarded me.)
Low-income students don't do
much better. NMSC likes to say that
only one percent of high school
seniors are selected to be National
Merit Semi-Finalists, but it's more
interesting to see what percentage of
each income group ends up with that
coveted honor. Accordingto the 1989
average scores for each income
group, students whose parents made
less than $10,000 had only a .48
percent chance of attaining the
National Merit Finalists' average
PSAT selection index. Those whose
parents made more than $70,000,
however, had a 4.14 percent chance
- eight times more than their poor
counterparts.
In its 1988 brochure, NMSC
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