4- The Michigan Daily - Monday, April 11, 1994
(ihie firtIC4i at t(tiv
420 Maynard
Ann Arbor, MI 48109
Edited and managed
by students at the
University of Michigan
JESSIE HALLADAY
Editor in Chief
SAM GOODSTEN
FLINTr WAmESS
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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'Be good to each other and have courage to right the
wrongs..'
-Dr. Albert H. Wheeler, the University's tenured Black
professor, who passed away last week
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R dinga new wave
The new Calculus 115 has proven to be worthwhile
l he derivative of x° is nx"'; anyone who maxima and minima of a function,"
has taken Calculus 115 knows this. How- still requires that students master then
lever, if asked to define a derivative (or a processes that go into solving calculus
limit or L'Hopital's Rule, for that matter), lems. The difference is that instead o
.the percentage of those who took Calculus ply forcing students to "regurgitate
115 prior to this term able to answer would swers repetitively, as the "old" calculu
undoubtedly be small. But, as of this term, NWC allows students to relegate such1
the number of students in Calculus 115 ca- to their calculators, thereby allowing
pable of solving mathematical problems and to focus more on the proof techniqu
explaining the procedures, proofs and defi- theories behind mathematical proc
nitions behind those solutions will almost "Old" calculus focused little, if any, o
certainly rise exponentially. things.
In a December editorial entitled "Calcu- NWC also features many new
lus Conundrum," we questioned the There "will be cooperative learningi
University's full-scale implementation of a classroom, homework teams will be f
new calculus teaching method originally and the role of the professor will be 1
developed at Harvard University. This "new a coach rather than a lecturer." This
wave" calculus (NWC), many University to mix students in a common endeavo
mathematics professors feared, would focus it emphasizes cooperation over compe
more on manipulating a graphing calculator Furthermore, many of the NWC pro
than on understanding, at least somewhat, are based on real-life situations rathe
the mathematical history and theory that just being a mass of meaningless equ
allow for the finding of solutions. In short, These changes are profound as theye
many worried that NWC would "not teach plify what should be the University'sm
students how to think on their own ... [and - to not just teach students, but to
that students] will also not develop the atti- students to teach themselves and each
tudes needed when studying advanced Kudos to LSA DeanEdie Goldenbe
math." the University Mathematics departm
After almost an entire term of exclusive taking a bold step, despite much oppo
teaching of NWC, coupled with two previ- to institute NWC. If the quality of tea
ous years of experimental teaching of NWC, isn't decreased (as so often befalls
we are happy to proclaim that NWC has University courses), NWC will prove it
erased almost totally what, in December, be infinitely valuable.
were very legitimate fears. With the addition of the new quant
The primary fear of many University reasoning requirement to the LSA cu
faculty, that, in NWC, theory would have to lum, it is highly likely that the num
give way to calculators, has been dispelled. students enrolling in NWC will rise
Contrary to the false popular belief that assured that NWC can aid in dispel
students "will not be required to remember growing apathy toward mathemati
basic calculus techniques such as graphing showing that math is a fun, interestin
equations, finding intercepts or finding powerful discipline.
Justi.ce lssa friend
NWC
mental
s prob-
f sim-
e" an-
us did,
things
them
es and
cesses.
n such
ideas.
in the
ormed
that of
serves
or, and
etition.
blems
er than
Cations.
exem-
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teach
other.
rg and
ent for
sition,
aching
many
tself to
itative
urricu-
ber of
. Rest
ling a
cs by
ng and
AATU did violate
agreement with MSA
To the Dafly:
It is obvious that the
Daily has done very little
research into the AATU and
its relationship with MSA.
The Daily has only published
information given by the
AATU; information from
members of the assembly
who have questioned the
merits of the AATU has been
glossed over as "party
politics." The following is a
factual account of the events
that led to the AATU's
subsequent loss of funding.
When we examined the
budget that was passed by
MSA, it was specifically
amended that the AATU
should receive "the
remaining $11,000 (when)
the AATU provides the
following items to MSA,..
1) An internal review
document highlighting
measures AATU could take
to serve University of
Michigan students more
effectively, including
through discussion of
AATU's current weaknesses
and measures to mitigate
these weaknesses; 2) An
agreement that AATU will
quantitatively track students'
use of AATU, including
separate counts of students'
use of walk-in services,
telephone services and
brochures distributed. If
AATU fails to provide the
above items (1) and (2)
within 180 days of the
passage of the MSA budget,
AATU will not receive the
remaining $11,000." The
budget was passed on
September 22, 1993 at 12:36
in the morning. There can be
no question of when the
document should have been
due. Additionally, multiple
members of the AATU were
present at the passage of the
budget with this amendment
in place. The AATU
selectively disregarded this
part of the MSA budget., but
it considered the remainder
of the budget a solemn
contract between MSA and
the AATU. Many students
have become confused and
feel that certain members on
MSA "took" away the
AATU's money. This is one
of the misconceptions that
has been popularly portrayed
by the Daily. The fact is that
the AATU forfeited its
money automatically
because it failed to comply
with the MSA budget.
Regardless of the
tardiness of the document,
the internal review document
that was turned into MSA
could not be considered a
"thorough" review
document. It was only three
and one-half pages long (one
of the pages was a graph that
showed how many students
were helped) and was
obviously lacking many
major issues that the
assembly felt needed to be
addressed. In short, the
AATU did not spend six
months on the document, but
rather more like six hours
after it was brought to its
attention that the document
was a week late.
Many people feel that
$11,000 is a lot of money. No
matter what, even
miscommunications, would
not stop a professional
organization from meetings
its obligations. Using excuses
like miscommunication and
relying on secondhand,
information continues to
show the reckless manner in
which the AATU approached
a serious obligation which
constituted a substantial part
of their operating budget.
People on the assembly felt
that with the current,
performance of the AATU, it
did not deserve to receive the
money that it forfeited. The
question is: when is the
AATU going to take
responsibility for its
management problems and
fiscal irresponsibility?
Admittedly, I voted
against funding the AATU in
the beginning of the year. I
was optimistic that after the
AATU received its line item,
it would recognize the
assembly granted this to
them with great reservation. I
was hopeful that the AATU
would recognize these
reservations and take drastic
action to reform their internal
operations to bring them in
line with proper business
procedures and generally
accepted professional
standards.
The AATU and its board
have repeatedly
demonstrated that they are
unwilling to reform their
organization. It is obvious
that real changes need to be
made.
JACOB STERN
MSA Vice President
Conspiracy
of trees
Since I am about to graduate, I
have been spending a lot of time
walking around campus reflecting
on the college experience. So far, I
have reached three conclusions.
* The University is not an
educational institution. Don't feel
bad if you thought otherwise; it's a
common misconception. My
research has uncovered conclusive
evidence that the University is
controlled by a consortium of
breweries, condom manufacturers
and T-shirt makers. None of your
classes are actually intended to teach
you anything; they are designed to
make you thirsty (mmmm, beer),
give you a chance to meet potential
sex partners (sad, crude, but true)
and showcase the latest fashions
("University of Michigan" T-shirts
for those who of you who keep
forgetting where you are, and "Co-
ed Naked ..." shirts for those keen
on irony - clothing advertising
nudity).
A few people do take their
classes seriously here, but they
usually do so without thinking too
much. They just latch on to some
dogma which they then repeat ad
nauseum. Here is a typical
conversation:
'Green' student: "Aerosols have
destroyed the ozone layer!"
'Capitalist' student: "No, they
make the ozone fresh-smelling and
confident!"
'Leftist' student: "Bourgeois
swine! Aerosols and ozone are just
tools for the oppression of the
workers."
'Typical' student: "Stop talking
about 'politics,' you guys. Let's go
to Rick's!"
This hierarchy of priorities at
the University was demonstrated
for me two years ago, both directly
and symbolically, when my
roommate got drunk and threw up
on my economics textbook.
* It is no longer considered
dorky to carry your backpack on
both shoulders. At my orientation
in 1990,1 was told that 1) everyone
at Michigan has a backpack, and 2)
you have to sling the pack over just
one shoulder, unless you are a
dweeb or are riding a bike. In those
days, like everything else at the
University, how you wore your
backpack made an important
political statement. If you put it on
your left shoulder, you were a
communist, and if you put it on
your right shoulder, you were a
fascist (whether you had a Jansport
or an Eastpak was a declaration of
your sexual orientation, but that's
not important right now).
In this era of political
correctness, people are apparently
too afraid to make such bold,
courageous statements about
themselves, so perfectly cool people
now wear their backpacks on both
shoulders. I did not notice this quiet
revolution until last week, when I
watched people walking through
the Diag from the third floor of
Mason Hall. It is really amazing
how quickly students have rejected
the old paradigm. A new, wishy-
washy breeze is blowing.
* All of the trees on campus are
involved in a conspiracy to take
over the University. You probably
don't believe this, but I have proof.
Go to any tree in the Diag and look
on its north or west side about four
inches above the ground. Each tree
has a number on a little tag nailed to
its trunk. No, really, it's true! Go
check. You have been walking past
these trees every day without
noticing their numbers, but don't
worry -I'm looking out for your
best interests. I have learned that
the trees are numbered this way
because they are all registered
members of a paramilitary
organization. Sometime in the next
six months, my sources tell me,
they will stage a coup (possibly in
league with the fierce and fearsome
Diag squirrels). I tried to
corroborate this story, but tree
#2138, the alleged ringleader,
refused to answer my questions.
In fairness to the trees, I have
heard an alternate explanation for
this phenomenon, namely that the
University numbers its trees to make
recordkeeping easier. If that were
tre however the niuwemit wnuld
I
S
W omen, minorities, homosexuals, the
poor, all who cherish privacy, free-
dom and their rights as individual citizens
- come October, when the Supreme Court
convenes for its 1994-95 season, they will
have lost a friend.
Last week, Justice Harry Blackmun, the
Court's longest-serving member, announced
he will retire at the end of this season. This
announcement was a surprise to few - at
83, Blackmun is the oldest justice on the
Court, and his retirement will be only one of
several to take place in the last few years,
ollowing that of William Brennan in 1990,
Thurgood Marshall in 1991 and Byron White
in 1993.
Yet the announcement came as a blow to
many who relied on Blackmun's voice to
stand up for civil rights and individual liber-
ties, especially in the face of a conservative
Court dominated by Reagan/Bush appoin-
tees.
Blackmun is undoubtedly best known as
ihe author of Roe vs. Wade, the 1973 deci-
sion protecting a woman's right to an abor-
lion. In crafting that opinion, Blackmun
recognized the fundamental right to pri-
vacy, which, he ruled, included a woman's
right to have an abortion during the first
trimester of pregnancy. In the intervening
21 years, Blackmun has been vilified by
anti-choice activists, many of whom clas-
sify him as the enemy of all American val-
ues. Yet Blackmun has stood firm in his
view, dissenting from recent Court rulings
that have begun to erode the broad protec-
tion of abortion rights that Blackmun out-
lined in Roe vs. Wade.
Yet Blackmun should not be remem-
bered solely as the author of the abortion
decision. In his 24 years on the Court, he has
been a consistent protector of individual
rights, from free speech to church-state sepa-
ration to privacy. He has ardently supported
civil rights programs and legislation, dis-
variG . _ a :,tan ., hie n -alant ma .. vitata aA
tive action and make it easier to ignore
racial and sexual discrimination. Most re-
cently, he has declared his opposition to the
death penalty, attacking it on both legal and
moral grounds. Throughout his tenure, Jus-
tice Blackmun has pledged to be sensitive to
the "little person" - and he has kept that
promise, standing up for ordinary citizens'
rights in every possible case.
Blackmun's retirement places a heavy
responsibility on President Clinton's shoul-
ders. The second Court vacancy during his
term gives Clinton the opportunity to "put
his stamp" on the Court, as whomever he
appoints will likely be on the bench for
years to come. Accordingly, the President is
besieged with demands from various groups,
all of whom want a justice who will be
friendly to "their" issue. However, the loud-
est of these demands has nothing to do with
any specific issue. Rather, it is from those of
all shades of the political spectrum, who
charge Clinton with the task of making the
Court "look like America." This is, indeed,
an important concern - especially when
looking at a court whose entire history has
included two women and two African
Americans.
Yet neither Clinton nor the American
public should allow themselves to be caught
in a numbers game, determining the Court's
composition by race and gender only. There
are highly qualified potential nominees from
every race, both male and female. Clinton's
responsibility is to sincerely look among
these groups for his nominee, and to select
the most qualified individual - not based
on the color of his or her skin, but on his or
her knowledge of the Constitution and com-
mitment to upholding American citizens'
rights.
Blackmun's retirement leaves an enor-
mous hole on the Court, a hole that Clinton
will be hard-pressed to fill. Clinton must
rise to this challenge, and select a nominee
,tvlk ,an nh lr R lmi n-,. :n : -4nad
I
Another Holocaust
revisionism ad
To the Daily:
I would like to believe
that the Holocaust never
happened. I would like to be
able to say that my relatives
were not slaughtered in Nazi
gas chambers, burned in
ovens and buried in mass
graves. I would like to
believe, because I am so very
repulsed and sickened at the
thought, that the Nazis did
not make soap from Jewish
fat, lampshades from Jewish
skin. What I wouldn't give to
know that, indeed, all the
horrors were a hoax, the
atrocities a lie, the six
million killed a myth.
And yet all I can do is
face the terrible facts. As
much as it pains me, every
day I am aware that entire
communities, whole
populations, were wiped out.
This is a fact. We must regard
it as such, ponder the
implication and never, ever,
forget.
There are those, however,
who would like to forget.
obviousness of their hateful
agenda, the Daily persists in
publishing their
advertisements. The April
7th addition of the Daily ran
and advertisement for
"Revisionist Network," a
radio program hosted by
Ernst Zundel. Among the
topics of debate are: "Did the
American and British
governments 'dream up' the
Nazi gas chamber and
extermination camp stories to
deliberately inflame the
public against Nazi
Germany?"
Couched in the auspices
of post-modern historical
skepticism, hiding behind the
much misinterpreted blanket
of the first amendment,
Revisionists like Ernst
Zundel, who on "60
Minutes" claimed that Hitler
was "misunderstood and
picked on only because he
lost the war," seek to
promote their racist, anti-
Semitic agendas in
legitimate, public forums. By
printing this ad, the Daily
allows these Revisionists to
achieve their goal.
It's time for the Daily to
Awareness of the Holocaust
is at an all time high, and yet
the Daily persists in giving
credence to those who deny
it. The arguments in favor of
running the ad just don't hold
up. Even if those responsible
for printing the ad don't
personally support the views
expressed by the content,
they do support the
publication of those views as
topics for legitimate
historical debate. This is
precisely what the
Revisionists are after: a
legitimate and respectable
forum in which to voice their
lies. By running the ad, the
Daily makes those views
more respectable.
Anyone who still thinks
that a newspaper is
"objective" needs to think
again. Every day choices are
made as to what is printed
and what is not. A newspaper
(even the Daily) has certain
standards, after all, and must
abide by them. The
Holocaust happened. This fact
is not open to debate, or
subject to denial.
Open your eyes. Printing
a Hnocaut denia l a ia
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