4 - The Michigan Daily - Monday, November 28, 1994
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420 Maynard
Ann Arbor, MI 48109
Edited and managed by students at
the University of Michigan
JessieHalladay
Editor in Chief
Samuel Goodstein
Flint Wainess
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.
Give credit where it's due
'U' should match credit hours to class workload
'I think too much was made of this nonsense. It
was not Frieder vs. Fisher or Frieder vs. Michigan.'
- Bill Frieder, the former Michigan basketball
coach now at Arizona State, on last Tuesday's matchup with the Wolverines
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."MJ"IhnAr, AND A ?L AID
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Media biased
Heterosexual marriage is
on Middle
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Every semester about this time, students
are faced with the same dilemma: which
classes to take next term. Often they become
frustrated - requirements must be met and a
certain number of credits maintained each
semester in order to graduate on time. How-
ever, when the credits assigned to a class do not
match the work involved in taking the course
- as is frequently the case - students are left
to choose between classes they will learn from,
and classes that merely fill credits.
A perusal through the time schedule or the
course description will show that usually a
100-level introductory course counts for four
credits, while 300-level and 400-level courses
count for only three credits. According to
standards set by LSA's Curriculum Commit-
tee, the number of credits is generally equal to
the number of hours spent in class. Therefore,
most upper-level courses have fewer sched-
uled hours per week, but are far more demand-
ing in terms of hours to be spent outside of class
reading, studying, completing projects, writ-
ing papers and mastering advanced concepts.
On the other hand, lower-level courses with
light reading which provide basic overviews
- rather than in-depth analyses - receive an
extra credit hour for meeting only one extra
hour per week.
Exceptions to the guidelines determining
credits are lab courses and film courses. As a
rule of thumb, two hours in lab turns into one
credit hour. Films are considered to be outside
reading and hence do not factor into the credit
formula. By the time students learn the ropes,
they can read between the lines of the course
descriptions and decipher the true difficulty of
a course. For first-year students, credit hour
notations can be deceptive. If a schedule is
filled with five 3-credit classes that student
will be burdened with outside work. How-
ever, if the same schedule contains four 4-
credit classes chances are that student's
workload will be more manageable.
Juggling credithours also causes problems
with distributions. One, most courses used for
distribution are introductory level. That makes
grade points heavily weighted from the four-
credit 100-level courses. In all fairness stu-
dents' grade points should reflect their abili-
ties in their concentration. Two, the purpose
of distribution is to expose students to fields
other than their own in hopes that they will
pick up additional knowledge or find an area
of interest.
If students are bound by credits, they will
not pick courses that appeal to them, but
choose based on number of credits.
In the matter of concentrations students
especially need to be free to choose classes
according to what they will learn - not when
they will graduate. Professors and advisers
are often frustrated by the credit system at the
University. Advisers find it difficult to guide
students wisely when choices are poor. And
professors have been known to sneak an extra
required hour of class into a three-credit course.
They sidestep the system to include a neces-
sary hour, but the students get the raw end of
the deal.
When the system does not work for faculty
or students, a change is in order. This page
encourages the Curriculum Committee to re-
evaluate the guidelines determining credits
for courses and make them more comprehen-
sive so that credit hours reflect the amount of
work the class entails. Students, faculty and
administration alike would agree that this
modification would be most beneficial to all
involved.
rriu aUI c &uAILr I uL IucUAt tuft
To the Daily:
The letter arguing that
"Same-Sex marriages [are] not
beneficial to society" (Nov. 22)
argued its point badly. Its thrust
is that heterosexual marriage is
useful insofar as it produces
fruit, and that this fruit (i.e.
child) is necessarily best off
with "both its biological par-
ents, rather than a single child.
One, more is not always
better. Medical advances have
made it possible to live longer,
and people don't need to be
replaced as often; in other
words, there is no threat of the
human race fizzling out. Mean-
while, there are millions of"ex-
tra" children waiting to be
adopted, to have homes with
people who love them.
Heterosexual couples do
have a very high probability of
reproducing, whether they like
it or not. An adoptive couple,
straight or gay, has made the
conscious choice to become
parents, which is a great start to
any family.
The fact that gay/lesbian
couples are much less likely to
reproduce (than heterosexual
ones) could very well be a plus
to insurers, as these couples are
a lot less likely to take advan-
tage of maternity and child
benefits.
The institution of hetero-
sexual marriage was not cre-
ated to ensure the survival of
the species; you can be pretty
sure that women would have
continued to become pregnant,
regardless. Rather, it was insti-
tuted to ensure that man's
wealth went to his heirs; mar-
riage required the fidelity of
wives to guarantee the proper
passage of property. Just as my
car title is in my name, so too
did the wife and children have
to be in the husband's name.
Marriage for love is a rela-
tively new idea. (Heterosexual)
marriage is almost seen as a
requirement; many times men
and women will do so because
they should, because it's what
is accepted, because it's just
what people do. The tradition
brings with it a lot of myth and
with it a lot of historical bag-
gage. Gay/lesbian couples who
choose to marry do so in the
face of huge resistance. Like
many interreligious or interra-
cial couples (and many straight
ones too), they are quite con-
scious of why and how they are
making that commitment. How'
is this not a benefit to society?
Jill Corral
University alum
Kill the fmli buster
Sen. Harkin 's proposal would increase efficiency
Fund-raiser falls victim to PC
To many people the filibusterrepresents one
honest man's tool for single-handedly stop-
ping a dirty political conspiracy, as it appears
in the Hollywood version of government, "Mr.
Smith Goes to Washington." However, in re-
ality it has never been used to uphold the
integrity of government or American society.
Before 1965 a filibuster meant control of the
floor. Because the procedural rules of the
Senate allow for unlimited debate, a senator or
group of senators could hold the floor, or right
to speak, and not yield for as long as they
wished.
In 1965 the Senate created the "two-track
filibuster" to avoid the repetition of occur-
rences like the 83-day delay of the Civil Rights
Act the previous year. It allows other issues to
be discussed while a controversial bill is nego-
tiated. It is also called the "silent" filibuster
because the right to speak need not be held to
delay the issue. Sixty votes are necessary to
end the delay and bring the issue to cloture,
allowing a vote to be taken. It was created to
keep Senate business moving in the event of a
future delay like the 1964 civil-rights debate.
The use of the filibuster has skyrocketed
since the "silent" hybrid was created. Of all
filibusters, 48 percent have occurred since
1980. In the last Congress alone more were
used than during the entire 18th century, all of
them "silent." By threatening to unite against
cloture, and backing up that threat with the
necessary 41 votes, the Republicans drove the
Clinton administration's agenda into the
ground. GOP tactics denied votes on impor-
tant bills such as health care and campaign-
is in large part due to the consequences of its
use. Although, in theory, the filibuster is not
contrary to the fundamental principles and
overall effectiveness of Congress, in practice,
it has proven to be both of these things.
Most importantly, the silent filibuster sub-
verts the principle of majority rule. The Con-
gress is fundamentally based on the idea that
laws are made by a majority vote of its mem-
bers. By requiring 60 votes to end debate and
allow a vote in the Senate, the two-track
filibuster corrupts this principle. No longer
are 51 votes sufficient to pass legislation.
Because the Senate's agenda is so full, the
threat of a filibuster is enough to keep a bill
from reaching the floor. This has two negative
consequences. First, the threat of a filibuster
reduces unlimited public debate, a fundamen-
tal principle it was designed to protect. When
senators know they will be unable to end
debate on the floor, because they lack 60
votes, they are forced to negotiate behind
closed doors - off the record. In these ses-
sions, they may be forced to give up important
aspects of their bill, before it ever reaches the
public's ears. The only other alternative, even
worse for the American people, is to surrender
the bill entirely. Secondly, filibuster threats
put dangerous amounts of power in the hands
of individual senators. They can hold up im-
portant bills to advance pet issues. In the
resulting closed-door negotiations their bar-
gaining clout is raised to detrimental levels.
Both of these consequences handicap the
Senate. However, the two-track filibuster has
repercussions in the House as well. Represen-
East accord
To the Daily:
An article "Israel Turns At-
tention to Syria After Peace
Accord" in the Oct. 19 Daily
caught my eye recently during
a visit. The article quoted the
Israeli foreign minister, then
David Kimche, president of the
Israeli Council on Foreign Re-
lations, followed by the opin-
ion of Joseph Alpher, director
of a center in Tel Aviv, and
finally a statement of the col-
lective hopes of the Israeli offi-
cials that the United States will
force a Syrian response.
Given the content of the ar-
ticle, one might infer that the
Syrians were too inarticulate to
formulate a reply. Clearly the
writer of the article has decided
that the Syrians have absolutely
no thoughts on these matters, or
at least none worth quoting.
But it's up to the United States
to force something out of them
on Israel's behalf.
Maybe someone can force
the media in the country to be a
little more objective when re-
porting Middle East issues.
David Mendenhall
Professor of Chemistry
Michigan Technological
Institute
'Family' is an
economic unit
To the Daily:
I am writing to respond to
David Twede's letter, a reac-
tion to a same-sex marriage
editorial which appeared in
Monday's Daily. First, Mr.
Tweed seems to think thatsame-
sex marriages are "legal in most
states." Only a few U.S. cities
recognize gay marriages on
equal terms with heterosexual
marriages. He goes on to say
that, since the family is the "ba-
sis of our society," it benefits us
all.
Unfortunately, this is sim-
ply not true. The American
"family" is an economic unit,
and one which reinforces and
maintains the heterosexual,
nuclear pairing of a man and a
woman to meet societal, eco-
nomic needs. Let us remember
that men have fared quite well
under this definition, while
women have been oppressed
and abused. Marital rape is a
common and, in some states,
legal occurrence; similarly,
domestic violence is a crisis
affecting 70 percent of married
women in the United States.
Obviously, this "basic unit"
hasn't quite worked out for
some of us. Mr. Twede stated
that "if you ask society to change
the most basic unit of its foun-
dation," all of society had bet-
ter benefit from the transfor-
..'.n.n Unct+of nonoa not on
Remaining
thankful, even
amid snow
and the GOP
GLEN ARBOR - The warm
crackling fire sets a soft glow on this
northern Michigan cottage. It's two
days afterThanksgiving and my fam-
ily is still hiding away from this
cold, snowy world.
The family is helping me come
up with column ideas.
I thought about using this col-
umn to reflect on the meaning of
Thanksgiving - its historical sig-
nificance, modern manifestations
and post-holiday vegetarian survival
tips. But the inspiration eludes me
and the idea is beyond cliche.
"I have it, Erin!" my brother
Derek says. "I think it could work!"
Derek begins to describe whathe
says would be a column with the
perfect combination of politics, hu-
mor, insight and zeal.
A Republican cocktail party.
Rush Limbaugh is hosting.
It can be a Thanksgiving feast, he
says.
Derek, who obviously has been
spending too much time underlining
polysyllabic words inhismed school
textbooks, proceeds to describe a
scenario where Sen. Jesse Helms
(R-N.C.) is running around promis-
ing to give plutonium weapons as
Christmas gifts if he wins the ap-
pointment to chair of the Senate
Armed Services Committee.
Bob Packwood is there, too, of-
fering to nominate Helms in ex-
change for two of Helms' secretar-
ies, as Packwood has been having
trouble hiring since word got out
about the high level of demands he
makes on his female staff.
But Derek, I tell him. I'm a col-
umnist for a student newspaper. I'm
writing for students who don't care
about politics. Most don't even
bother to vote.
He interrupts.
"Sex," he says. "You need Hillary
Clinton jumping out of a cake."
I raise my eyebrows.
He perseveres.
"No seriously. It's a new ploy to
win support for the health-care plan.
Nothing else is working. She's al-
ready tried begging."
I flat out refuse to lend credibility
to such sexist scenarios by putting
them in print. This conversation had
digressed tremendously. I was lis-
tening to a very stupid story and still
had not accomplished my goal of
finding an engaging column topic
that wouldn't be just a stupid ploy to
fill space in the first column after
Thanksgiving break.
That was when Derek proceeded
to offer local angles to his cocktail-
party fantasy by throwing Michigan
Gov. John Engler into the mix, de-
scribing him as bickering with (now)
Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole
over who is the bigger force in the
Republican Party. Dole has a bigger
name, Engler argued, but Engler has
never lost an election and is good at
getting free positive publicity by get-
ting his wife to give birth to triplets
one week after an election.
The cocktail party also had the
host (Rush) writing love letters to
anti-abortion lobbyists, and Ronald
Reagan listening to the ramblings of
Newt Gingrich (now Speaker of the
House), who was trying to convince
his buddies that he's a popular figure
and that people really like him even
though kids used to tease him be-
cause he has a silly name. It also had
White House spokeswomanDee Dee
Myers cracking tasteless
Alzheimer's jokes in reference to
Reagan. I heard the jokes but they
S1
01
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To the Daily:
It is exasperating to witness
the plague of political correct-
ness descend upon yet another
virtuous, but innocent, en-
deavor, this time the Markley
Multicultural Affairs Council's
(MMAC) "Male Rent-A-
Friend" fund-raiser.
What is most appalling is
the lack of reason and maturity
exhibited by almost everyone
quoted in Katie Hutchins' ar-
ticle. The three gay students
who protested their being de-
nied access to the fund-raiser
stated that permitting women
to exclusively participated in
the event is both sexist and a
false presumption that all people
are heterosexual. Well, MMAC
surely sponsors other
fundraisers that allow men to
get involved. In almost every
activity in life, some people are
better able to partake than oth-
ers. That is a truth political cor-
rectness fails to acknowledge,
Review ignores
which is exactly why it fails so
miserably. Further, if MMAC
did allow men to bid alongside
of women in "Male Rent-A-
Friend," it would imply that all
the rentees were bisexual. To
each his own, but I prefer being
98 percent accurate to being
0.98 percent correct.
The proper response for the
administrators of the fundraiser
is to defend it on its merits
while perhaps offering to par-
allel it with a "Gay Rent-A-
Friend" or something similar.
Itunfortnuately appears that
MMAC is caving in to the PC
militants and will change the
event and advertisements. If
they actually lift their prohibi-
tion of men bidding for next
year, I'd remind them not toe
complain when they realize a
shortage of male "auction
items."
Michael Wheaton
Engineering junior
performance,
dwells on actors' appearances
To the Daily:
I know we've calls seen
numerous messages today re-
garding the Daily article, but
I'm an opinionated person and
wanted to get my two cents'
worth.
Miss Emily Lambert
complex choreography.
Most importantly, I think
commenting on our appearance
rather than our musical ability
is wholly inappropriate. The
Harmonettes can't win with the
Daily ... we either need an
updated look (we used to wear
II