4 - The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, January 24, 1996 atje 3b~a O ar 420 Maynard Ann Arbor, MI Street 48109 Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan MICHAEL ROSENBERG Editor in Chief JULIE BECKER JAMES M. NASH Editorial Page Editors Joi~RAN STANCIL LAsT-DITCIJ Aila NFL football, not1Republians, will solve the Cornty'decay 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 credit trap LSA should assign credit hours by workload T he predicament is a familiar one. Many LSA juniors and seniors face an unenvi- able choice: overload their schedules or de- lay graduation. A student can take five diffi- cult classes and rake in 15 credits, or risk making college a five-year ordeal by taking only four classes and 12 credits. The curricu- lum committee could - and should - alle- viate the problem by revising its credit for- mula. Under the current system, credit hours correlate with the number of hours spent in class. In general, one hour equals one credit. For labs or film screenings the loose rule of thumb dictates that two hours translates to one credit. When a professor adds outside meetings - mention of which is excluded from the syllabus - the formula does not allow for additional credits. Professors often pile on extra time com- mitments with the knowledge of neither stu- dents nor the curriculum committee. Even without surprises, 300- and400- level classes are usually worth three credits, while they resemble five-credit classes in workload. On the other hand, 100- and 200-level classes, generally four credits, take less time and effort. Students trying to cram 18 credits into a term must take six upper-level classes - The blan Repealing no-fault d In the ongoing quest to reduce the skyrock- eting U.S.divorce rate, with its detrimen- tal effects on children and families, Michi- gan may become the first state to repeal "no- fault" divorce legislation. While the divorce rate is staggering, Michigan and other states may be choosing a dangerous "solution" to the problem. Currently, all 50 states have some form of no-fault divorce laws. Husband and wife can terminate their marriage relatively quickly according to the wishes of either or both sides, and for any reason. The new legislation - similar to laws that existed until no-fault legislation was introduced 25 years ago -. would require specific grounds for divorce, such as adultery, desertion, drug and alcohol abuse or physical and mental abuse, unless both sides agree to dissolve the marriage.Next month, state Rep. Jessie Dahlman (R-Hol- land) plans to introduce a package of 10 bills that aims to provide "protection to the mar- riage contract." The plan will be composed of three general categories, which will in- clude requiring couples to participate in edu- cational programs before they get married, talk with trained professionals prior to filing for a divorce and develop a parenting plan once the divorce is finalized. Under Dahlman's proposal, the couple would pay for the services. Proponents of the change claim divorce has a negative effect on the family in general ~HOW TO CONTACT TmHM 3, too much for even a student with no job and no extracurricular activities. After a student registers for a three-credit class and discovers the heavy workload, the only way out is to drop the class. Credits cannot change in the middle of the semester -but the professor can change requirements once students have registered. The solution: The curriculum committee must require from professors well-planned descriptions of the workload, including time spent in and out of class. Then the committee would assign cred- its based on the number of credit hours it takes to participate fully in a class, rather than a superficial estimate of time spent in lab and lecture. A revised formula would add some extra work for the curriculum committee-whose function is to set appropriate standards--but also would create a more efficient system for students and professors alike. The commit- tee should recognize the goal, and work to- ward achieving it. Each term the credit problem resurfaces, and students complain. But they have re- signed themselves to the inept credit system -moreover, so has the administration. This time the curriculum committee needs to take the ball and run with it. ie game ivorce is bad policy and children in particular. Indeed, U.S. cen- sus data has shown that children of divorced parents have a greater tendency to drop out of school, bear children out of wedlock and break the law. The new divorce law, how- ever, does not promise to correct these prob- lems. Forcing unhappy couples to stay mar- ried is no better than divorce. Furthermore, reintroducing fault into divorce proceedings would create more ugly court battles --coun- teracting theigoal of more amicable family relations. One positive part of the legislation is the provision for parent-education programs, which would teach families how to cope with the changes brought on by divorce. These programs would deal most constructively with the reality of the situation, helping fami- lies adjust to the change. Also, they put less strain on the legal system. The recent conservative trend toward "family values" points to an important need for attention to the nation's families. How- ever, the religious right goes beyond atten- tion, straying far too often into attempts at moral coercion. While the sanctity of the family is a noble goal, it cannot be preserved by the state. It is beyond the powers of legislators to enforce a morality of marriage not shared by all. To attempt to do so places public authority where it does not belong - in a battle that will create far more problems than it solves. In case you haven't noticed yet, the Re- publican "revolution" is really nothing more than an enormous effort to recreate a past that never existed. The conservative vision holds a mystical allure for some Americans. All (male) citizens work and those who don't never whine about it, but rather exercise a rigorous American thrift and eventually become rich. Everyone goes to church, and afterwards Grandma serves a pipin' hot, if not fat-free, Sunday dinner. Men refer to their wives as "Ma" and protect their homes with shotguns, while sex is had only in bed, by married couples in the mis- sionary position. And nerdy sociologists, with their theories about the "root causes" of crime, are finally rounded up and placed in detention centers run by the militias. Now, I respect good ole' fashioned moral clarity as much as the next guy, but I don't think the Oregon Trail leads into the 21st century. And besides, the Republicans are barking up the wrong tree. The root of America's problems isn't lenient sentenc- ing, women's rights, welfare or premarital sex. Our problems stem directly from the super-commercialization of pro football, which, as I will prove, was a direct cause of the decline of America's cities and thus of her moral character and sense of commu- nity. This is the problem Congress should address: urban blight. I know Republicans don't like cities, but unless they plan to give everybody 40 acres and a mule, something's got to be done. And that's where I come in. A complete restructuring of the National Football League would rebuild neighbor- hoods, create jobs and, most importantly, make everybody move back. Back from the Sun Belt to where they really belong: the cold, gritty, polluted, morally correct cities of the Northeast and Midwest. All the NFL has to do is adopt a few simple rule changes and America can be great again. The first rule would be that no city can have a team unless it's east of Kansas City and north of St. Louis. The only exceptions. would be San Francisco and Atlanta, which are anomalous - good cities in bad parts of the country. Additionally, Canton, Decatur and Akron would each get a team. This rule is the cornerstone of the whole plan, because it would end the national embarrassment brought about by the very existence of teams in places like Arizona, Seattle, Houston and Tampa Bay, which isn't a city at all, but a body of water. Dallas would not have a team, because of what they did to Kennedy and because they're making America watch a Super Bowl where Barry Switzer is one of the coaches. The Browns would be allowed to move to Baltimore as long as the Rams moved back (yes, back) to Cleveland. The second rule of the new NFL involves the playing field. It should go without saying that all fields will be natural grass. No paint- ing will be allowed in the end zones. Instead, those cool diagonal white lines would be brought back from the heady days of the old NFL. And if teams didn't like it, they could leave the end zone blank. Stadiums would have to be in the central city instead of in the suburbs and all players, coaches and staff members would have to live in the city. So would the owner. Men would not be allowed into games bareheaded. Stadiums would be filled with cigarette and cigar smoke. Lots of smoke! Parking lots would be small, with only space for 10 percent of the capacity of the stadium. Cities would build extensive networks of street- cars. Streetcars! JIM LASSER SHARP AS TOAST ~TH5E TAX .HE.5 FLAT.! * WERE IN . TLKOUBLE' f - 'A free press Is not co-opted by government, law enforcement or the court system.' - Michele Ames, editor in chief of The Minnesota Daily, explaining why she is reluctant to give prosecutors subpoenaed photograr* Additionally, cities would have to meet certain political requirements in ordert have a team. Mayors would have to be med bers of racial or ethnic minorities and be Democrats. The mayor-council form of city government would be abolished and the machine form brought back and the Ma- chine would bear the mayor's name. A cer- tain percentage of the mayor's henchmen would have to have been indicted at one time or another. Preferably, the mayor himself would be indicted regularly, but the tooth- less judicial system would be no match for his Machine, whose support among t people would be loyal and intense. Smoking would have to be allowed at City Hall. And the city must violate EPA air quality stan- dards on 70 percent of the days of every year. Deion Sanders would be banned for life. There would be no more Super Bowls, since it's clear that the Super Bowl was conceived only as a hyped-up money maker which led directly to the urban turmoil of the late 1960s. You don't believe me? The first Super Bowl was played in January 194 What happened right after? See? If Newt can be an historian, so can I. The Republicans want to renew America by returning to the pre-Jacksonian era. I don't like that, but I do like gritty urban liberalism. I want labor unions. I want a new New Deal. I want civic pride and football games at Tiger Stadium. I want Norm Van Brocklin and Red Grange and Alan ("the Horse") Ameche. I want Bobby Layne. Some people look at the past throu rose-colored glasses. I prefer to look baW through clouds of pungent smoke. - Jordan Stancil can be reached over e-mail at rialto@umich.edu. PRESS CLIPPINGS Israel a lonely champion of democracy By Joe Roche The Minnesota Daily has served as a battleground for two clashing factions the last two weeks: One side attacks the State of Israel, while the other side de- fends Jews. Since neither side mentions Israel's importance, I'm concerned that these exchanges have confused many people about the moral basis for the U.S. rela- tionship with Israel. I believe without question that, as Jimmy Carter said, "(Israelis) are our best friends and allies in the best sense of the word." And I believe every effort must be made to maintain American inti- macy with Israel. Instead of being the terrible place as it is often charged, Israel is a lonely champion of democ- racy. Hubert Humphrey, describ- ing Israel as "a natural ally" of the United States, explained that, in Israel, "there is a spirit of equality which lends dignity to labor and strengthens the drive toward achievement and progress." This is forgotten by those who distort and manipulate Israel's struggle to survive in the world's harshest neighborhood. .Throughout Arab countries, women face degradation and op- pression. Female literacy reaches a mere 3 percent in the Arab state of Yemen, and women aren't al- Roche is a sophomore at the University of Minnesota. This column was published yesterday in The Minnesota Daily. lowed to vote in several other Arab states. Some Arab states have yet to ratify even one of many conventions concerning women's rights in society. For example, Arab women do not have guarantees to equal employ- ment, education or marriage rights; they are denied the right to vote in some Arab countries. In Egypt, female circumcision is still practiced. In these countries women's educational and work- ing rights are dismal. In stark contrast, women in Israel have achieved one of the highest levels of progress and advancement in the world. In Is- rael, the rights of all women, in- cluding Arab women, are guar- anteed. Arab women's education in Israel by far surpasses Sudan, Libya and other Arab countries. Arab women in the governing Labor Party have even run for office in the Knesset, Israel's par- liament. Surrounded by backward theocratic dictatorships in nearly every Arab state, Israel provides a model for democracy. "Israel's Arab citizens enjoy the very democratic rights they are denied in the Arab states," according to a statement by the AFL-CIO Ex- ecutive Council. "But neither can we accept the view fomented by sensationalized media accounts that Israel has lost its moral bear- ings and no longer merits the sup- port of the democratic commu- nity." I believe the Knesset and the judiciary of Israel firmly demon- strate this. The Basic Law, Israel's bill of rights, guarantees that "the Knesset will be elected by uni- versal, national, direct, equal, se- cret and proportional ballot." Is- raelis are even provided with free transportation to their polling dis- tricts. The commitment to the democratic process is so concrete that election day in Israel is a national holiday. The result is one of the most inclusive parliaments imaginable, ranging from communist and re- ligious orthodox to several Arab parties. All it takes is 2,500 voter signatures and 1 percent of the vote for a party to receive a seat in the Knesset. Although it is in a region dominated by religious identification, the judiciary also demonstrates Israel's commit- ment to all people. It is entirely independent of the executive and legislative branches, and in mat- ters of personal status where reli- gion is concerned, Israelis have access to Rabbinical, Moslem Shari'a, Druze and the nine rec- ognized Christian communities as separate courts. Now contrast this with the brutal religious op- pression that is institutionalized in the many Islamic Arab states surrounding Israel. Comparing Israel with other Arab countries involves dealing with some of the human race's most tragic practices on itself, such as 'slavery. While Israel stands as the sole model of de- mocracy, Arab states maintain up to 300,000 slaves, according to the British Anti-Slavery Society. It is sadly a common practice in many Arab states. Human Rights Watch is currently trying tc - fect U.S. policy toward the Arab state of Mauritania because it has as many as 90,000 black slaves. Rejecting the brutality and backwardness of its Arab foes, Israel certainly merits deep American respect. As John F. Kennedy said, the United States "has established and continued a tradition of friendship with Is el because we are committed t1 free societies that seek a path to peace, and honor individual rights." While scenes of the Palestin- ian uprising flashed in people's minds for three years, the bloody crushing of similar dissent in Arab countries was rarely noticed. In particular, Algeria, Libya, Jor- dan, Iraq, Sudan, Iran and Yemen all have put down revoltsIh bullets and tanks. In one Syrian town, more than 20,000 people were killed by the government. But unlike the milder Palestinian uprising, there were no cameras to record these events, and there were no effortsmade to reconcile differences, as there were between the Israelis and their Palestinian neighbors. Thus, rather than being abt against Israel, the very fact that the Palestinian uprising lasted so long is a tribute to Israel's quest for justice and peace in a cruel and dangerous region. Gov. John Engler P.O. Box 30013 Lansing, MI 48933 (517) 355-7858 e-mail: migov@aol.com State Rep. Liz Brater (D-53rd district, Central Campus) 412 Roosevelt Building Lansing, MI 48909 (517) 373-2577 State Sen. Alma Wheeler Smith (D-Washtenaw County) 410 Farnum Building Lansing, MI 48909 (517) 373-2406 State Rep. Mary Schroer (D-52nd district, North Campus) 99 Olds Plaza Building Lansing, MI 48909 (517) 373-1792