4A - The Michigan Daily - Monday, February 5, 1996 e £ibtwigdiHE ltl 420 Maynard Street Ann Arbor, MI 48109 Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan RONNIE GLASSBERG Editor in Chief ADRIENNE JANNEY ZACHARY M. RAIMI 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. FROM THE DAilY Without a contract 'U' should meet GEO's demands NOTABLE QOTABLE, 'I would rather do my teaching. But If we agitate now, the sooner it'll be over.' - GEO member Monika Cassel, explaining why graduate students were protesting Thursday JIM LASSER SHARP AS TOAST P4ARLBO KO COUNTR -i1_ -- - -- LETTERS To THE EDITOR Viewpoint, unfair to Arabs Graduate student instructors, holding white picket signs and wearing yellow buttons, protested across campus Thursday for higher wages, more benefits and better treatment from the University. By meeting the demands of the graduate students, the administration will create a better environ- ment for both graduate and undergraduate students. Since the University is primarily a re- search institution, graduate students are re- sponsible for most of the actual teaching. Many undergraduate classes - such as low-level language, math and writing courses - are taught entirely by GSIs. They also lead many discus- sion sections for the large lec- ture classes. The quality of un- dergraduate education depends directly on their ability to de- liver a high-quality perfor- mance. (4 The Graduate Employee Organization's contract, which expired Thursday, greatly un- dermined GSIs effectiveness. Currently, GSIs with the most common appointment earn ap- M proximately $850 per month. This is far below the current average cost of living in Ann Arbor, which is close to $1,200. Fur- thermore, the University does not provide health care for GSIs who teach only one section. GEO is requesting that the Univer- sity pay fe; part of the cost. Graduate students, most of whom face big debts, do not have readily available alternate sources of income. Thus, if they cannot earn a decent living by teaching, they are forced to take on other part-time work - which cuts down on the time they have to devote to their teaching responsibilities. The quality of un- dergraduate education suffers. Moreover, adequate funding for graduate students tends toattractthe best applicantstotheUniversity's programs - and the best teachers. In light ofthese facts, GEO's demands are more than reasonable. The union's request for a 15-percent wage increase amounts to nothing more than a cost of living allowance, considering that 50 percent of most GSIs incomes currently go toward housing and utilities payments. Also, all GSIs should have at least some of their health care paid for - after all, they are employees. Perhaps one of the largest points of con- tention between GEO and the administration is the quality I ATT WIMSATT/Dai'y of GSI training, especially for international, non-English speaking students. Currently, these graduate students are given three weeks of English language training over the sum- mer. However, the University fails to provide room and board during this training. Thus, a foreign scholar has to find a place to live and pay for it, though they speak no English. Against the background of the negotiations, GEO mem- bers should be applauded for acting professionally. Their efforts to educate undergradu- ate students and the University community about the far-reaching implica- tions of their plight demonstrates a steadfast commitment to teaching. They deserve credit for continuing to teach their classes, even as they protest. If the University does not settle on a contract soon, GEO will be forced to strike -an ugly situation forall involved. Students will suffer the most, with no one to teach or grade them. In turn, the students would rightly blame the University. No classes could result in lawsuits for the University. And the GSIs would rather be with their students than marching in the Michigan winter. In the end, it's up to the University to provide both graduate and undergraduate students with an education, take care of its employees and settle GEO's contract. Israel's policies hurt Arabs TO THE DAILY: I was extremely shocked to see that Viewpoint titled "Israel: A lonely champion of democracy," (1/24/96), originally published by The Minnesota Daily, was reprinted in our esteemed Michigan Daily. I cannot understand why the Daily editors chose to print such a brazen pack of lies at this time. It seems as though this article came as a response to heated debate on the subject of Israel and its Arab neighbors on the Minnesota campus. Perhaps The Michigan Daily editors decided to spark such a debate on our campus, too. Instead of running a fairly accurate and factua~article on the issues of the pear East, the editors chose to copy this brazen opinion of some ignorant lunatic who knows abso- lutely nothing about the issue in question. What makes me say that? Because I have had the luxury to spend 16 years of my life living in that "lonely champion of democracy," Israel, or actually in territories occupied by it. Having suffered under occupation my entire childhood, I have seen the light. I have experienced what lies words such as "democracy" and "justice" and "equality" carry! So Israel allows its Arab citizens to vote in free elections? Then what about the million and a half Palestinians who live in the occupied territories? I don't ever remember that we were allowed to vote in anything. Oh, we had municipal elections back in 1980, but Israel didn't like the results so they attempted to assassinate the elected mayors of some major Palestinian towns, and then deposed them and installed a military administration. Ha! Israel a champion of peace? Phooeey! 1956 Israel invades Egypt. 1967 Israel invades Egypt, Jordan and Syria. 1979 and 1981 Israel invades Lebanon. Even now, not a week passes without us hearing about Israel sending planes to bomb lonely Lebanese villages, in an effort to bring down the valiant resistance of the Arabs to its expansionist threats. And did that biased article say anything about how Israel came into being? About how Israel drove away hundreds of thousands of unarmed Palestinian civilians (my own parents included) out of their homes and took over their lands and their country? Or how Jewish terrorist groups that massacred hundreds of Palestinians in villages like Deir Yassin in 1948 later became a central part in the structure of Israel's govern- ment? (Yt:s! People such as Yitzhak Rabin or Menachem Begin were terrorists.) Did it say how Israel, after occupying most of Palestine in 1948, eradicated entire Palestinian villages (hundreds of them) in an effort to change the charac- ter of the land and "alter" history to its benefit? I can go on and on and on, but if the Daily really wants to fulfil its educa- tional purpose, I suggest they go beyond Israeli propaganda and run a fair, accurate and well-re- searched article on the Near East. RAMI KISHEK RACKHAM STUDENT Arabs are victims of racism To THE DAILY, In a recent edition of your newspaper, you decided to print a biased, misinformative editorial from a Minnesota Daily writer by the name of Joe Roche ("Israel: A lonely champion of democracy," 1/ 24/96). This editorial contained a huge amount of erroneous information about Arabs, portraying them as "backward" and barbaric nations. As an Arab American, I am used to experiencing racism from much of the American population, however I never expected it to be supported by the Daily. I am sorry to say that it seems the Daily does not thoroughly investigate the validity and accuracy of the articles it prints. This is not a minor issue; it is a major offense to all Arab Americans. I would hope that when publishing articles concerning contro- versial topics in the future, the Daily could check its facts and sources before smearing an entire ethnic group. I highly doubt the Daily would act with such irresponsibility when dealing with other minority groups. I demand a public apology from the Daily for perpetuating stereotypes and irresponsible journalism. Please note my concern. HAYTHAM BAHOORA LSA SOPHOMORE M ideast article inaccurate TO THE DAILY: - I am an officer with the Arab-American Students Association. The campus Arab community is shocked by the Daily's printing of an editorial last week titled: "Israel: A lonely champion of democracy" (1/24/96). It is clearly biased, but more importantly, factually inaccurate. The author, Joe Roche, was obviously biased toward Israel, which is not the problem. However, he presented the Arab countries as tyrants. His portrayal was totally inaccurate. It was clear that he was writing on a subject that he was not fully educated about. Even in an editorial, as the editors of the Daily know, one must be aware of all the facts in order to present a worthy opinion. Joe Roche's freedom to say what he wants is valid, but his presenting of false "facts" is intolerable. We are currently in the process of meeting to determine what our action will be in this situation. The Arab Ameri- can does not deserve to be portrayed as dictators and tyrants. AMER G. ZAHR LSA FIRST-YEAR STUDENT THE DOUBLE X The privilege of laughter T he four of us like spending time together partly because we rarely invite men along. One evening we were walking down State Street in pairs, enjoying each other's com- pany and an evening out. My arm was linked through the arm of the woman I was walking with, and our bodies touched in several places. I was enjoying my friend's closeness and her willing- ness to make her affection explicit in the bright street lights. The Michi- gan Union rose above us, sprawl- ing, like shelter- ing arms.' "Lesbians," a man muttered as he passed us. We KATE could hear his EPSTEIN hostility. We all laughed and I squeezed my friend's arm. We walked taller, if anything. The situation did not feel threat- ening. It wasn't very late or very dark, and we were all together. The man hadn't raised his voice orturned to watch after us or followed us. We were walking on our own campus. We felt safe, and this is part of the reason we could laugh. Our laughter was expressing real pleasure. In accusing us of being lesbians, the man was admitting that he felt threatened by us. Whether he really thought we were lesbians I have no idea, but he seemed to be responding to the fact that we were plainly showing, at least for the evening, we didn't need men. He benefits from society's ordering of the sexes, in which women need men in order to be valued by them- selves and others, and he perceived us as a threat to that order. We were laughing partly because we resent that order, and liked the idea of being a threat to it. We were also laughing to prove we were not afraid to be called les- bians. For the same reason, we did not pull away from one another when he called us that. We were not ashamed of anything we were doing or feeling, even enjoying each other's physical and emotional af- fection. We were not afraid that anything we were doing meant we were lesbians, and would not have been ashamed if it did. In fact, all of us identify ashetero- sexual, and two of us have serious romantic ties to particular men. To some extent, it would have been even easier for the four of us to laugh at being called lesbians if our sexual relationships weren't with men. The four of us have a bond that depends partly on shared gender. It is of a kind that men cannot have with us, and, as such, can easily be perceived as a threat by our roman- tic partners. There are things men cannot understand about us because they are men, although our relation- ships with men may be among our most intimate. Because we are straight, we have to try to make our romantic partners accept that there are things they can't share with us because they aren't women. The man on State Street was a reminder of how difficult that can be. Nonetheless, laughing at being called a lesbian is primarily the privi- lege of straight women. Lesbians and bisexual women may have the option of not having men in their households and beds without losing sexual partners, but they do not have the option of avoiding threats like the one we incurred that night on State Street. Ifwe were lesbians, the four ofus would probably still think that a man like the one on the street, who is threatened by relationships between women, is trying to com- pensate for his own insecurities. But ifwe were lesbians, the man's remark on the street would in no way seem an isolated incident. It would be a part of the system of oppression. A system that might include our parents disowning us because of who we were. A system that includes the state, which would deny us the right to marry our ro- mantic partners, and gain all the benefits involved in state-sanctioned union. A system that includes em- ployers who could legally fire us because of who we loved. A system that includes religions that would condemn us as sinners. A system that includes violent attacks on les- bians, gays and bisexuals. My friends and I might not have laughed ifthis system of oppression affected us directly. Like many aspects of privilege, I *S Healthy legislation Bill would protect uninsured ill, jobless The insurance lobby, engaging in a reso- nant protest, aims to block a promising new bipartisan effort to reform health insur- ance. The plan, drafted by Sen. Nancy Kassebaum (R-Kan.) and Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.), would protect policy holders against the loss of coverage because of pre- existing disease or illness. It also would re- quire insurance companies to extend em- ployer policies regardless of employment status. By sifting through the insurance industry's ambiguous self-regulatory maze and implementing clear guidelines, Ameri- can insecurities about health-care costs and coverage would be squelched. Too bad it's an election year. Campaign policy and full-force insurance lobbying threaten to kill the legislation. Though the co-authors represent both par- ties, Republicans seem unwilling to allow President Clinton to bask in any successful health care reform. In addition, insurance titans fear regulation. Insurance is somewhat of a gamble for both the individual and the company. The business is profitable until clients actually become ill. For too long, the industry has been allowed to stack the deck and selectively choose - or hedge - its bets. Resisting change through aggressive opposition, the insurance industry is work- ing to prevent major changes. The formi- dable insurance lobby and political maneu- Workers who fear the loss of coverage are bound to jobs, limited in self-employment pursuits and vulnerable when unemployed. Extending insurance policies in an individu- alized form is the necessary link to uphold evolving employees' needs. It is now time for the insurance industry also to respond to change. The industry's suggestion to establish state supported insurance pools for people unable to purchase private policies is self-serving. By collecting funds in an effort to pool risk and resources, insurance is able to cover a population. Filtering the ill and the poor out of the pool creates a windfall profit for the industry - but isolates the needy. Incorpo- rating the unemployed and ill into a greater insurance pool, Kassebaum said, would raise premiums an estimated 2 to 3 percent. Con- versely, the state pool would be an inad- equate, under-funded and over-stretched puddle. But to preserve resources for the insurance pool, the government may have to convert to mandatory health care. Maintaining health-care insurance regard- less ofemployment and continuous coverage are common sense acts of corporate and individual responsibility. The Traveler's in- surance group claims: "You're better off under the umbrella." Yet, under any company's current policy, without a job or with a known ailment the unemployed or the I S Article provides intense review of rap TO THE DAILY: I am amazed at the literary depth of Eugene Bowen. His article in Thursday's Daily ("Hip-hop you don't stop," 2/1/96) was passionate. angrv. vocal. was writing about? Was it Bosnia? Racism? The sinking of the Titantic? Oh, I forgot - it was about hip hop. Yes, all that fuss was about rap. the poetry, then join the legions of hippy wannabes of alternative music. In other words, don't cry for ME Argentina ... I'll be listening to some classic rock. I I