4 - The Michigan Daily - Tuesday, April 11, 1995
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JEAN TWENGE
THE ERASABLE PEN
420 Maynard MICnHAE ROSENBERG
Ann Arbor, MI 48109 Editor in Chief
Edited and managed by JuuL BECKER
students at the JAmEs NASH
University of Michigan 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.
ROE, repackaged
Proposed diversity requirement a step ahead
n a report released earlier this week, an quirement. Currently, a course's approval
LSA review committee recommended for ROE is instructor-specific: Depending on
ways to improve the controversial Race or the instructor and the material covered, only
Ethnicity requirement. The report - the first certain sections of a course are considered
to appear in the two years since the require- acceptable for meeting ROE requirements.
ment was instituted - suggests important This condition creates a great deal of confu-
reforms that would bring ROE in line with its sion for students. It has caused many to take
intentions, improve the classroom teaching a course thinking it fulfilled the requirement,
of diversity issues, and make it easier for only to learn they had wasted their time. It
students to fulfill. Insofar as these changes also makes the requirement difficult to ful-
do not encroach on the creative and intellec- fill, as students have to make sure not only to
tual liberties of the faculty involved, they are take the right course, but with the right pro-
welcome additions to an already vital part of fessor. Blanket R&E certification would cor-
the LSA curriculum. rect this problem.
Perhaps the most obvious change recom- The committee also suggested requiring
mended was a change in the requirement's training for all professors and teaching assis-
name. It should be called Race and Ethnicity tants instructing courses that meet the re-
rather than Race or Ethnicity (ROE). Argu- quirement. This is a good idea in that the
ably, there is little in a name, but in this case ROE requirement is relatively new and many
the new name more accurately reflects the faculty members lack the experience or
goals of the requirement, and helps tell stu- knowledge needed to discuss the issues of
dents and professors what sort of education is race, ethnicity, class and diversity that exist
to be obtained from an R&E course. Calling in this country. Mandatory training would
the requirement Race or Ethnicity creates an help the R&E requirement live up to its
inaccurate distinction between the terms name.
"race" and "ethnicity" as categories of social While all of these changes are good ideas
division. In reality, race and ethnicity are in themselves, their combination in the new
closely intertwined. From many standpoints, requirement could cause a problem. R&E,
they are practically interchangeable, and to for all of its good points, walks a fine line
separate them in a requirement ignores this between educating about diversity and tak-
fact. The name as it stood indicated to stu- ing intellectual freedom from professors and
dents and professors that a course need only TAs in their teaching. The blanket certifica-
cover one of the two to fulfill the require- tion combined with the mandatory training
ment, ignoring the tendency to overlook ei- could force certain faculty members to teach
ther one. While a single character may not against their beliefs. No one should be asked
produce immediate or sweeping changes to to participate in the program who does not
the curriculum, it at least helps to provide an truly believe in its ideals.
accurate focus. This caution aside, the changes made to
Another recommendation that will prob- the ROE requirement are highly favorable. If
ably be very helpful would institute "ge- put forth with care, they will probably pro-
neric" R&E certification for 100- and 200- vide for a better education for undergraduate
level courses attempting to fulfill the re- students.
Uft the blinders
Congress cannot ignore Armenian genocide
Love: More real than ideal,
it's the kiss we can 't resist
B eing in love is the best drug in the
world. Although spring seems to have
been delayed in its northward journey to
Ann Arbor, the warmth of romance still
lingers in the air - well, the warmth of
romance and all of its complications.
The need to be with other people --
especially with an intimate partner - is
one of the strongest human instincts in
existence. Yet we can't go out and buy it,
or even work for it as we would another
goal - our need is for another imperfect
and willful human being who doesn't want
to be controlled or changed any more than
we do. And therein lies one of the most
frustrating paradoxes of human existence.
This is a difficult reality to accept,
however, and we fight against it constantly.
First of all, we're sure we can find the
magic ingredient to make someone love
us. Advertisements promise us clear skin,
and sparkling eyes, and all of the things
that will bring us love, or, at the very least,
sex.
On the masculine side, beer ads seem
to suggest that with one sip of suds (the
right brand, of course), the babes will be
on you like flies. Magazines like Cosmo-
politan entice us into reading articles with
titles like "How to Chase After a Man and
Lose 50 Pounds While You're Doing It."
People have also dreamed over the
years of creating the perfect mate. One
episode of Star Trek featured a woman
who was tremendously attractive to men:
At a certain point in her development, she
would bond to her mate, adopting his
interests, understanding his feelings and
becoming a mirror to his thoughts. She is
so highly valued as a mate that she became
a diplomatic offering from one nation to
another.
It's also tempting to fantasize about
that perfect man or woman you can create,
all to specifications. Just imagine: You
could choose their physical features, their
personality, their interests. We're always
struggling to make our mates fit the mold
of that perfect person we have in our heads
- one with the body of Brad Pitt but the
mind of Albert Einstein, the humor of
David Letterman and the charm of Bruce
Willis (from his days on "Moonlighting,"
before he started blowing things up). And
if that's too farfetched, we can always
daydream about what our chosen one
would be like if only she looked better, or
he didn't have that annoying laugh, or she
didn't leave the cap off the toothpaste ...
Then there's the question of work and
identity. Families in the 1950s thought
they had solved this problem; in many
ways, housewives managed to make a
full-time job out of loving someone.
Couples lived where his career took them,
and she was always there when he got
home from work. There are no conflicts
here, until the woman wakes up one day to
realize that she doesn't have her own life.
Now that we've all awakened, we must
mediate between two careers, two lives
and two strong wills in order to. be with
someone.
As tempting as the perfect, accessible
mate may be, the frustrations of reality do
have their advantages in the end. Perfec-
tion and similarity can get pretty boring
after a while, and the mate who does
exactly what we want all the time isn't
very exciting. True love comes when you
begin to love the annoying idiosyncrasies
along with the good parts, when it is the
person and not the commodity that you
long for.
It's hard to say that when the tooth-
paste is dried up because the cap was left
off and those models in the magazine sure
look better and he's just called to say he'll
be late from work, adding a little annoying
laugh, but all we can do is try.
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NOTABLE QUOTABLE
"When a man
walks In front of a
mirror, he sees
Arnold
Schwarzenegger."
- Pop psychologist Joyce
Brothers, in a speech at
Women's Health Day
10
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I
LE"rERs
April 24 will mark the 80th anniversary
of the Armenian genocide, in which
more than 1 1/2 million Armenians were
massacred at the hands of a racist Young
Turk government of the Ottoman Empire.
The heinous crimes committed against hu-
manity have been continually denied by the
Turkish government, even to this day. The
tragedy of silence is compounded by the U.S.
government's refusal to acknowledge the
reality of the genocide.
America, a country that prides itself on
being a beacon of truth, justice and righ-
teousness in the world, is proving to be hypo-
critical by not acknowledging the atrocities
committed against Armenians during the
period of 1915-23. The United States has
taken a strong rhetorical position against any
instance of genocide. The U.S. government
should be ashamed for supporting the Turk-
ish denial, and not denouncing the barbaric
acts committed against innocent Armenians.
The 1 1/2 million Armenians were sys-
tematically killed at the hands of fascist Young
Turks in an extermination carried out by a
government of the ancestors of modern Tur-
key. The Young Turks perpetrated mass
drownings, mass burnings, mass rape, mass
starvation and mass pillage against the Ar-
menians, in hopes of exterminating this mi-
nority, whom the Turks perceived as being a
threat to their lofty position in society. On
April 24, 1915, the Young Turks gathered
600 Armenian intellectuals, scholars, writ-
How TO CONTACT THEM
ers, philosophers and leaders and brutally
executed them.
Members of Congress have, as they do
each year during this time, introduced a reso-
lution calling for the American government
to commemorate the Armenian genocide and
encourage the Turkish government to ac-
knowledge the atrocities committed against
the Armenian population. However, the U.S.
government has continually shied away from
recognizing this genocide, for fear of souring
relations with its NATO ally. The United
States needs to recognize the sufferings en-
dured by the Armenian people, and take a
stand against the Turkish denial of this event.
By not recognizing one of the most hor-
rific events in human history, the American
government is hindering awareness of geno-
cide, and increasing the risk of future occur-
rences. Hitler's exhortation to his generals,
"Go kill without mercy ... After all, who
today remembers the extermination of the
Armenians?," should serve as a reminder to
the U.S. government that overlooking the
atrocious killings of Armenians will lead to
more tragedies. Remembering and confront-
ing a tragic epoch will bring about awareness
and ensure against future tragedies like the
Armenian genocide.
The Congress should commemorate the
terrible suffering endured by the Armenian
people and, in doing so, send a powerful
message to the world that genocide will not
be tolerated and cannot be covered up.
Article fraught
with ignorance
about diversity
To the Daily:
As a doctor would despair-
ingly sew up a cancer patient
after helplessly throwing up his
hands at the rampant,
untreatable cancer he had seen,
such was how I felt when faced
with the rampant ignorance in
Vah6 Tazian's article, "Multi-
culturalism: A '90s p.c. cha-
rade." I cannot hope to cover all
of the points that Mr. Tazian
raised, and will therefore leave
that to others. One point I would
like to address is his treatment
of those "Vietnamese and Chi-
nese immigrants who arrive on
the West Coast, are able to speak
English within a few years, ...
become successful business
owners, and ... have children
excelling in our schools."
Mr. Tazian, I appreciate the
good intentions you may have
had in uplifting these Asian
immigrants as the model mi-
nority for African Americans to
emulate, but I have a feeling
that most Asian Americans do
not appreciate your being our
spokesperson. The idea of the
model minority myth is so well-
known that I had assumed that
this issue need not be addressed
in an institution of higher learn-
ing. In fact, I believe one of the
Michigan Daily writers had
written on the model minority
myth a few weeks back. Yet,
pockets of ignorance continue
to fester.
T _ _ _ _s n ,
edy would not be necessary if
there weren't a need. If one were
to look at the signs around him,
he would find that a college
student's limited experience
with his or her Asian American
colleagues is not the be-all and
end-all of the Asian American
experience.
It is tempting to forge on and
address the naive notions of
what is America and what is an
American that underpin Mr.
Tazian's article, but that would
be too large a problem for the
scope of this letter. I would en-
courage others to help cure the
writer's cancer of ignorance.
Yong Lee
First-year Law student
LSA students
must share
responsibility
for language
education
To the Daily:
As an LSA alumnus, I found
your April 7 editorial opposing
the policy change regarding the
pass/fail option in foreign lan-
guage courses an embarrass-
ment. Your transparent attempts
to rationalize student dislike of
the language requirement as
concern for the quality of lan-
guage courses show either a lack
of perspective or a lack of hon-
esty.
To the extent that I could
identify a cogent argument, it
ran something like this: 1. Both
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be adopted.
A crucial omission from your
editorial was any attempt even
merely to name the putative "se-
rious internal flaws" that "con-
tribute a great deal more" to the
failings of elementary language
courses. Surely, if these are so
overwhelming, it should not be
so difficult at least to mention
them in passing and explain why
these are more significant than
the only specific problem both
sides agree contributes to the
low quality of some of these
courses. If your concern is truly
improvement of the quality of
the language curriculum, you
owe it to your fellow students to
enumerate the flaws the well-
intentioned but misguided fac-
ulty are ignoring, whether by
oversight or some more nefari-
ous form of neglect.
I'm sure there indeed are
other aspects of the language
courses that could improve (and
I am equally certain that certain
dedicated faculty and teaching
assistants are working very hard
to identify and remedy any such
deficiencies). But why obstruct
the solution of the one flaw you
can identify?
I think the answer is trans-
parently obvious - students
want to blow off language
courses at no risk to their grades.
You admit as much in your re-
marks about the maturity of stu-
dents. What I don't understand
if why "... it is not the place of
the faculty to use academic dis-
cipline to stop it." Tell us all,
then, when - if ever - it is
appropriate to require students
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leads to a debate concerning the
value of the language require-
ment which you seem unwill-
ing to initiate. But really, it is
the heart of the matter. If you
want to re-examine the wisdom
of a language requirement then
by all means have the courage
to do so. But in your editorial
you do not do this; instead, you
worry about GPAs and beg for
more entertainment in the class-
room.
You use the word "respect"
as though only students are en-
titled to it. Presumably, when
one attends a school like Michi-
gan one assumes that the in-
structors, both regular faculty
and TAs, have a superior under-
standing of their respective
fields of knowledge. Shouldn't
the overwhelming support for
the change on the part of faculty
be respected by students? The
general opposition to this change
by students has almost certainly
been noted; I suspect it is inter-
preted as further confirmation
of their view that the pass/fail
option is widely abused as a
way to avoid taking language
courses seriously.
They have taken a positive
measure to ensure that the lan-
guage proficiency they expect
every LSA student to obtain is
not sabotaged by permissive
grading policies. This seems an
entirely reasonable position. In
what way does this signal the
sort of shifting of blame or love
of the quick fix of which you
accuse the faculty?
Your editorial on removing
the pass/fail option for fourth-
University President James J. Duderstadt
Office of the President
2068 Fleming Administration Building