4 - The Michigan Daily - Thursday, November 10, 1994 (7ije Iriit'grn i lgl '1 really don't know what the Board of Regents is except that it raises my tuition, which is annoy- ing.' - LSA sophomore Audrius Girnius, responding to the Regent question in the Daily's exit poll Tuesday [TH rPwE "Sp INE clrUf!5 420 Maynard Ann Arbor, MI 48109 Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan Jessie Halladay Editor in Chief Samuel Goodstein Flint Wainess Ifft- a A 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. The Ii barrier I " -oo c - 44 TA proficiency tests must be watched closely e College of Literature, Science and the ing a trial period to study the TA in a teaching rArts (LSA) has recently raised its stan- environment where an evaluator could view dards regarding the communication skills of the TA's ability first hand. If only a few stu- its foreign teaching assistants (TAs), a reform dents feel inconvenienced by the TA, then that will prove beneficial for both students and there should be no basis for dismissal. If an teaching assistants. Yet while the new rating entire class seems to be lost from the first system implemented by LSA is intended to moment, there should be a reevaluation. providebetterinteraction between student and While the burden for this sort of improve- teacher, there are several considerations of ment falls on LSA's shoulders, students must which students must be aware. - also take initiative in their learning environ- First, this new aptitude requirement must ment. Students need to realize that they might not be used to discriminate against TAs with be slightly burdened by assistants who do not accents. Just because a teacher may not speak speak perfect English, but that this will not perfectly clear,'fluent English, he or she should seriously impair their ability to learn the mate- not be given a lower rating and therefore rial. Many students have impulsive negative rejected for a position. Teaching assistants reactions toward teachers on the first day when should not be viewed as ineligible to teach they can't comprehend every word with per- simply because of their accents. Many valu- fect ease. In many instances, the student must able teachers would be lost if this was the only only make an effort to understand. An accent isj basis of acceptance. not the same as a lack of English proficiency, A teaching assistant's approval should be and students must recognize and work with the based on his or her proficiency in teaching and difference. of the subject to be taught. TAs -and profes- The College of LSA is correct in adminis- sors, for that matter- who are educated only tering a new policy to determine eligibility for in their subjects and not in English deserve no foreign teaching assistants. The goal, however, pity. Students have a right to be in a class should be to provide the best environment for where their understanding of the main points the student and the teacher, not to disregard all does not depend on the presence or absence of foreign applicants. In the past, LSA has been a language barrier. They are not paying thou- vigilant about this danger, and this must con- sands of dollars to have their children struggle tinue -added to increased new watchfulness to keep up with a TA because of communica- over communication and teaching ability. The tion skills. student satisfaction rate has increased over the , However, TAs who speak comprehensible past few years regarding international TAs. English deserve an equal chance to obtain With this new system, the rate will only con- teaching positions. If there are student com- tinue to rise, providing a better teaching and plaints about a particular TA, those should be learning environment - and that, above all addressed. LSA could do this by implement- else, should be the main objective of LSA. Black T sday Disastrous election leaves Clinton tough choices I Code editorial To the Daily: I appreciate your editorial of Oct. 18, 1994, on the State- ment of Student Rights and Responsibilities entitled, "Can We Amend The Code?" We could not agree more with you that an amendment meeting needs to take place as soon as possible. We are interested in input from all members of our community, and we are espe- cially interested in comments, concerns and recommenda- tions from our students. There were, however, sev- eral errors in your editorial which I would like to address. It is true that our office was unsuccessful at gathering a quorum to conduct an amend- ment hearing last year. How- ever, this should not lead to the conclusion that we are not se- rious about the amendment process. Three amendment hearings were scheduled dur- ing the Winter 1994 semester. The first hearing, scheduled for January 27,1994, was can- celed dueto a severe ice storm which shut down almost every evening activity in the city of Ann Arbor. It would not have been appropriate for us to ask Judicial Board members, some of whom were commuting stu- dents, to participate in a hear- ing when the County Sheriff was urging everyone to stay at home and stay off the roads. The second hearing was sched- uled for February 2, 1994. Approximately twenty Judicial Board members were present. Although a quorum was not obtained, the student board members present strongly felt that persons proposing amend- ments should have the oppor- tunity to speak and an unoffi- cial meeting was held. The third hearing was scheduled for March 16, 1994. 25 student wrongly Indicts Judicial Board members at- tended this meeting. Prior to each meeting, our office re- peatedly contacted student members of the Judicial Board to encourage their attendance. More than 26 students had in- dicated that they could and would be present at each meet- ing. They fully understood the quorum requirement. They sim- ply chose not to be present. Our form of choosing Judi- cial Board members is unique to the University of Michigan. It is important for our commu- nity to understand that partici- pation on the Judicial Board carries a similar requirement to that of jury duty in that selected members are expected to ac- cept the position. The State- ment allows a student chosen to serve to be "excused by the Judicial Advisor if service could cause undue hardship." Al- though some students do ask to be excused for undue hardship, the vast majority consider par- ticipation on the Board a part of their community responsibil- ity. Over one half of former board members have served on hearing panels and have done so willingly and responsibly. However, all of the Board mem- bers do not feel that they are equally responsible to attend a meeting to amend the process. At other universities where stu- dent members are chosen or even appointed by the adminis- tration through various means, the administration has more leverage with the members. I am pleased that we do not have such leverage, but it is impor- tant that we all recognize that this makes it difficult to guar- antee a quorum. I am also concerned with your statement that the admin- istration "disregarded most stu- dent input in the process" of administration developing the Statement. The administration actively sought student input in constructing the Statement. Student repre- sentatives from MSA and from the Student ACLU actively participated. The Student Re- lations Committee ofSACUA, which has student members, regularly was asked to provide feedback. This feedback sub- stantially impacted the devel- opment of theStatement. In addition, student input was sought through a mailing which was sent to the home address of every student enrolled in July, 1993. Over 3000 responses were returned, assessed and considered. Again, changes were made. In the fall of 1993, two open forums and sixteen student focus groups were held on campus to seek studentin- put. While faculty, staff and members of the community also were asked to provide feed- back, the most significant changes were made in re- sponses to student groups. In fact, the requirement that 26 Judicial Board members be present in order to consider amendments was a student pro- posal. The version of the policy which was sent to the Regents for their consideration was the sixteenth draft. No one believes that the Statement is a perfect docu- ment; as you note, the adminis- tration also has amendments we wish to propose. We wel- come your constructive criti- cism and suggestions about the SSRR and the amendment pro- cess. However, to suggest that we have not obtained a quorum at amendment hearings because we are not sincerely interested in the process, is inappropriate in light of the facts. Mary Louise Antleau Judicial Advisor A quiz Hey you all - instead of flipping past the news and opinion to the crossword brainteaserthis week, why not try your luck and test your intel- lectual acumen (well, more like your knowledge of meaningless trivia) on this quiz of the ages. The winner will be given a free, royal blue, long- sleeved Michigan Daily t-shirt, cour- tesy of yours truly, or a copy ofthe new Monster CD. Good luck, folks! 1. Seinfeld's George Costanza's real-life parents reside in this South Florida city: a) Boca Raton b) Palm Beach c) king of suburbia, PBG d) Fort Lauderdale e) Miami Beach 2. In Madonna's brief stint at the 'U,' she lived in this dorm: a) the ever-exciting Couzens Hall b) South Quad c) Stockwell d) Mary Markley e) East Quad, where she first penned "Borderline." 3. The only other public univer- sity in America to charge more for tuition than our beloved 'U': a) University of Virginia b) University of Pennsylvania c) University of South Florida d) Lake Superior State e) U of Cal-Berkeley 4. The last time the Michigan football team beat the Wisconsin Badgers: a) 1993 b) 1992 c) 1991 d) 1974 e) 1965, when the first Americani ground troops landed at Danang. 5. The new fall fashion wear re- cently endorsed by The Michigan Daily Editorial Board: a) J. Crew rollnecks b) corduroys c) torn bluejeans d) Dpc Martens e) fishnets f) backwards baseball caps 6. The number of New Yorkers (or Jeep Cherokees) in attendance at the 'U': a) less than 500 b) between 500-1000 c) from 1000-1500 d) between 1500-2000 e) over 2000 of 'em 7. What makes up a comple Super Nova at the Bagel Factory: a) bagel, cream cheese, licorice b) bagel, provolone cheese, to- mato and a kosher pickle c) bagel, cream cheese, tomato, lox, onions d) a bagel, lox and whitefish 8. The "ambassador" of R.E.M.: a) Michael Stipe b) Mikey "dateless" Mills c) Bertis "first" Downs d) Lt. Trent Reznor e) Jefferson Holt 9. The town U-M's star freshman goalie hails from: a) Sioux Saint Marie b) Birmingham c) Flint Township d) Grayling e) Whitefish Point 10. This South University store features a "dog" with so much hair that it is unable to see the light of day: a) Miami Subs b) Splash c) Middle Earth d) The Princeton Review e) Urban Outfitters 11. The country responsible for this columnist's despair: a) Tunisia b) Cuba c) Belarus d) Espana e) the soon-to-be independent Quebec 12. This New York Knicks player missed a three-pointer in Game 6of the NBA Finals this past season which cost the Knicks the championship: a) Pat Riley b) Tim Biakabatuka c) John "can I bag your grocer- ies?" Starks d) Patrick Ewing e) Bill Safire S r r *ike aplague, Republicans swept the coun- try in Tuesday's midterm elections, seiz- ing control of both the House and the Senate as well asgaining asolidmajority of state houses. As tempting as it is to spin the victory as some sort of trend toward anti-politics, some star- tling truths emerged on Black Tuesday: the Republican victories transcended demograph- ics, and were not solely a result of low voter turnout. Some gaps came to light. A majority of women voted Democratic, while a solid ma- jority of men went to the GOP. The more troubling fact is that in the south, this election may have solidified the slow realignment to- ward Republicanism. In Tennessee, for in- stance, Rep. Jim Cooper and Senator Jim Sasser were slaughtered in their respective races for the Senate, the former by an actor and the latter by a heart surgeon. Both are conser- vative Democrats, and Cooper actually led the fight to present an alternative to the Clinton health care plan. He was surely no lackey of the president, but he found himself being "morphed" into Bill Clinton on television. Simply put, the anti-Clinton sentiment in the south precluded any hope that Cooper could have an election based on issues. In the midwest and the west, the trends were less pervasive, but nonetheless disturb- ing. In our own backyard, Spence Abraham slid his way past Rep. Bob Carr, and in Ohio, the outgoing Senator Metzenbaum - per- haps, along with the defeated Mario Cuomo, representing the golden days of liberalism- watched his son-in-law go down in flames. Yet, compared to the naked nativism demon- strated in the west, this means little. Califor- nians, by a two to one margin, passed Propo- sition 187, which disallows illegal aliens from rarnaiu.. cr mee nnlao+ ea 1 v.or. 70 ant: nr. unconstitutional. And they gave Gov. Pete Wilson a second term, ensuring that the Brown dynasty didn't extend into its third era. What does all this mean for the president? Most immediately, it means he is to be faced with an important decision. Should he turn bipartisan rhetoric into an honest attempt at coalition-building, turning away from closed- door task forces and restrictive congressional rules and embracing incremental change - even when it is not the optimal outcome? Or should he take the Truman tack, hoping that Republican in-fighting and an aggressive use of the veto, will allow him to run against the do- nothing 104th Congress? This page thinks the choice is clear: bipar- tisanship that harks back to a gentler time in Washington will be necessary to bring about change. Yes, the Congress will be more con- servative, as states like Pennsylvania and Okla- homa not only switched to the Republicans, but elected staunch conservatives. And the president should not accept a capital gains tax cut, or other trickle down measures designed to help millionaires and to plunge the country back into Reaganomics. However, the two most dangerous candidates - the Constitu- tion-shredding Oliver North and Michael Huffington, who had a dream of buying his way into the Senate - were defeated, and as Speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich will most likely relax his ultra-right rhetoric. In addition, there are health care and welfare changes that are wholly necessary, and are seen as essential for passage on both sides of the aisle. If the president truly embraces these modest changes, and the Republican leadership balks, the GOP will feel the wrath of the voters in 1996. In other words, bipartisanship is a win- win situation for the president. As long as rlintnn man ainsthe -ni aOP o he onnvi Alternative Spring Break responds to column To the Daily: We are writing in response to Erin Einhorn's column titled "ASB and Cuba" published on Nov. 7,1994. As site leaders of Alternative Spring Break, we would like to explain our posi- tion on the selection process. Firstofall, we were pleased to see that there were so many people interested in participat- ing -in the program. But, we feel that it was unfortunate that it had to become a competitive process, and we made every effort to try to eliminate the competitive attitude. We ac- complished this by explaining to applicants that there was no one applicant more qualified ing a diverse and cohesive group, which was the purpose of having group interviews in- volved in the selection process. We understand that this method had problems, but we were un- able to find an alternative way to accomplish our goals. Your opinion, of accepting people "first come first serve," simpli- fled and belittled our process and didn't take into account the goals of Project Serve. One of the main goals of Alternative Spring Break is to make a participant's experience a memorable one, so, therefore, it is necessary to create groups like these. Whatis important, is that we never stressed that our program is the only program, the help of Project Serve. There will be an informa- tional meeting on Thursday Nov. 10th at 9:15 in the Ander- son Room in the Union to talk about participating in another spring break program. It is true that we almost doubled the numbers of students that can participate in Alternative Spring Break, and we hope that those students who are not ac- cepted are not discouraged and will continue there activity in community service, and we urge students to come and seek options available at Project Serve. Thank you. Julie Lub-c