4 - The Michigan Daily - Friday, February 9, 1996
aI E wticbtgttn ]4)Zfl
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
Out -spoken
Cain must resign as director of SAPAC
NOTABLE QUOTABLE
'Government censorship is something we need to be
concerned about.'
- U.S. Rep. Dale Kildee (D-Flint) explains his
trepidation over the Telecommunications Act of 1996,
which includes a section on Internet censorship.
Jim LASSER SHARPAs TOAST
BILLIONAIRE INSANE WHAT ARE YvOU
A LU \ 1N FOR?
*
FOR
.9 ESIDENT'
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
MCINTOSH CLASSICS
What'syour
concentration?
Then again,
who cares?
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9.
B ang! That's the sound of one of the
University's most important organiza-
tions shooting itself in the foot.
Sexual Assault Prevention and Aware-
ness Center leadership blundered - and its
volunteers called it.
Now it's time to amputate.
Accusations
Seven volunteers recently accused
SAPAC Director Debi Cain of breaching
client confidentialities. They claim the orga-
nization has a problem with racism and that
Peer Education co-coordinator Janelle
White's termination was inappropriate. In
protest, the volunteers organized a work stop-
page.
Members said SAPAC fails to address
concerns of people of color and lacks the
knowledge to handle concerns ofthe lesbian/
gay/bisexual community. SAPAC's prob-
lems are common - organizations geared
mostly toward
women often encoun-
ter these barriers.
SAPAC's leader-
ship has to begin with
acknowledgment of
its problems, but it
does not stop there.
Leaders have to equip
the center to handle
unfamiliar crisis situ-
ations. They must
educate the members
so that SAPAC can
educate the commu-
nity. But the circumstances surrounding the
volunteers' protest indicate that SAPAC has
a lot of work to do.
Misbehavior
To some members, White's position of-
fered hope that SAPAC would work to ad-
dress these concerns; her termination signals
that Cain and others are not ready for im-
provement. As an African American, a mem-
ber of the lesbian/gay/bisexual community
and a SAPAC leader, she was in a position to
push for change. Did her superiors fire her to
rid themselves of the dissenter?
Cain's reasons for firing White were pa-
per-thin. White allegedly complained about
staff meetings. Many employees at many
jobs dislike tedious meetings. According to
protesting volunteers, White made a sugges-
tion at one staff meeting. Afterwards she
asked her supervisor, Emi Nakatazato, if she
had mispoken. White was concerned about a
look from Nakatazato's supervisor, Joyce
Wright. Later, White was told that she vio-
lated protocol by going to Nakatazato instead
of Wright. If a SAPAC employee can't talk
to her supervisor about a minor problem, the
organization is unusual in its lack of a hierar-
Chical open-door policy. In addition, White
accepted an offer to be a keynote speaker at
a national conference before consulting
SAPAC.
SAPAC's explanation does little to jus-
iify White's termination - and smacks of
ego problems among the leadership. Carmen
Crosby, a protesting PE, warned that criti-
cism of White's "behavior" was a code word
for controlling women of color. SAPAC
leaders' action toward White indicate a de-
sire to control. Moreover, if anyone's behav-
ior should be criticized, it is Cain's.
Exposure
In at least one instance, five SAPAC
members allegedly witnessed Cain breach a
former client's confidentiality. When mem-
bers questioned Cain's willingness to reveal
the information, witnesses reported Cain's
surprise that not everyone knew the person
was a sexual assault survivor.
By exposing this unknown fact, Cainjeop-
ardized the future of the organization she
heads. The survivor Cain "outed" could have
legal ground as a former client in a lawsuit
for breach of confidentiality. If the survivor
sues, Cain will have cost SAPAC money and
caused the organization great embarrassment.
Whether the issue becomes a legal one,
the damage to
SAPAC -and the
"outed" survivors
- is done. No
p
counselor should
drop confidential
facts. SAPAC, with
its promises ofano-
nymity, is in no po-
sition to carelessly
flaunt its own
rulebook.
SAPAC
can
JOSH WHITE/Daily
work to incorporate
more diversity into
its program. But what SAPAC did well -
provide confidential help to survivors in
crisis and educate the public on such matters
- Cain tarnished. SAPAC's credibility is
damaged.
Irreparable damage?
Where can SAPAC go from here? The
organization has lost its public credibility, as
well as the support of its volunteers. Without
support from either direction, the organiza-
tion is headed for disaster.
The University depends on SAPAC's ser-
vices. If students cannot trust SAPAC, they
will have nowhere to turn in crisis. But if no
organization like SAPAC exists on campus,
students will be the ones hurt most.
SAPAC must make major changes so that
it can serve University again.
Resignation
To start anew, SAPAC must restore cred-
ibility - but with Cain at the forefront, this
is impossible. She sets the tone for the public
and private SAPAC. Cain must step aside
and allow new leadership to repair the dam-
ages.
Although Cain will not comment on the
specifics ofthe incident, the fact that she may
have revealed the survivors' names proves
troubling. Whether this was intentional or
not, she leads an organization that has the
potential to repeat this mistake. Debi Cain
has no choice but to resign as director of
SAPAC - it's the only way to ensure that
this will not happen again.
'U' should
push for
health care
reform
TO THE DAILY:
The need for campus-
based health care reform just
intensified. With the
surprising announcement by
the Republican leadership in
Congress that the bipartisan
Kassebaum-Kennedy bill
will be brought to the floor
in late April or early May'
students have a more urgent
need than ever before to
push the Michigan Student
Assembly to exchange its
expensive (and optional)
individual health policy for a
standard, more comprehen-
sive policy that would be
purchased by all uninsured
and under-insured students.
Kassebaum-Kennedy
would, among other things.
restrict the ability of
insurance companies to offer
policies that don't cover pre-
existing conditions, such as
asthma and diabetes.
However, the government
would not substantially limit
the ability of insurance
companies totraise premi-
ums. Thus, although the
insurance companies offer
different estimates than
governmental actuarial
groups it is clear that group
insurance premiums would
go up. Typically, in large
risk pools, the increase
would be no more than 2 or
3 percent. But the insurance
companytthat MSA contracts
with has made it very clear
that coverage for pre-
existing conditions would
lead to a doubling of the
current premium rate.
At that price, one would
be foolish to pick up MSA's
policy - essentially
hospitalization insurance.
The thousands of students
that currently receive this
coverage may very well be
priced right out of the
insurance market.
j sWe don't have all the
answers to the health care
conundrum that leaves so
many of our students
uninsured and under-insured.
We do know, however, that
we simply cannot afford to
spend our time conducting
survey after bloody survey.
We need to act now.
FLINT J. WAINESS
MSA PRESIDENT
SAM GOODSTEIN
MSA VICE PRESIDENT
Photograph
encourages
racist
stereotypes
of African Americans in the
United States. The photo
perpetuates the stereotype of
African American individu-
als (especially males) as
those most likely to grace
the media in this fashion. It
also gives credence to those
who say that African
Americans are a threat to
campus safety.
ELZORA A. HOLLAND
CSP ACADEMIC COUNSELOR
Basketball
arena not
conducive
to fan
enthusiasm
TO THE DAILY:
Anyone who watched
Xavier's near upset of top
ranked and undefeated
UMass recently knows that
the environment the
Musketeers were playing in
gave them a distinct
advantage. Their home
court advantage is one
reason Xavier is a perennial
small school that always
seems to show up in the
tournament (i.e. East
Tennessee State, Western
Kentucky, Richmond). The
support that teams like
Indiana, Duke, Minnesota
and Kentucky enjoy is
simply nonexistent in
Crisler Arena.
I suppose it would be
very sweet and heartfelt if
the Athletic Department
said they were going to
build a new stadium to
reward the fans and the
players.
Unfortunately that costs
money and as long as
Crisler sells out every game
it is still helping to pay the
bills. So instead of applying
to the administration's
sentimental side I'd like
them to consider it an
investment in the future of
the program. A new arena
would not only give a
home-court advantage but
also help maintain the status
of the program.
It would be tempting to
outfit any new facility with
dozens of luxury boxes that
could be sold off to the
alumni with the biggest
wallets. Instead I would
suggest a compromise.
Take care of the alumni
with some extra comfort-
able seats, wide aisles,
maybe a few luxury boxes,
but make sure the bowl
surrounding the court is all
students,
Most alumni don't care
to stand at games or make
much noise, so put them up
top, give them a nice view,
maybe even heat their seats.
The arena should be limited
to 12 or 13 thousand
GEO directly
impacts
u ndergrads,
quality of
education
TO THE DAILY:
As a member of the
Student Labor Action
Coalition and a staffer at the
Graduate Employees
Organization, I have been a
part of the effort to reach out
to undergraduates at the
University. I finished my
undergrad education here
just two months ago. Thus, I
know that it is standard to go
through the University
knowing little about GEO or
its purpose. I also know that
as an undergrad, I had little
say in the structure or the
functioning of this univer-
sity. As I learnedabout
CEO's contract proposals, I
saw that they were fighting
for changes I had long felt
necessary. And while my
voice as an undergrad
seemed to accomplish little,
I realized GEO's contract
would force the administra-
tion to address shared
concerns for quality educa-
tion.
CEO's fight to improve
the working conditions of
Graduate Student Instructors
directly affects the quality of
undergraduate education.
And because GSIs are
primarily concerned with the
quality of education at the
University and are deeply
committed to teaching,
undergrads are the beneficia-
ries of all GEO victories.
Thus, were GEO to win its
fight for improved GSI
training, undergrads would
reap the benefits. Or in the
case of the fight for affirma-
tive action, undergraduate
education would improve if
the University agreed to
CEO's demand for increases
in the number of GSs of
color. And finally, the
quality of GSI teaching
would only improveawere
they paid a wage that
equalled the cost-of-living
numbers published by the
the University's Office of
Financial Aid. The fight for
improved GSI training,
enforceable class size limits,
a diverse GSI body, and the
payment of a living-wage is
the fight of undergrads as
much as that of GEO.
The purpose of our
outreach efforts is not to
demand things from
undergrads. Rather, by
discussing GEO's contract
proposals, we are showing
why undergrads and GEO
are allies in the effort to
make the administration live
up to its voiced commitment
to quality education. It is the
responsibility of undergrads
to tell the administration that
it is in undergrads' interest
T he liberal arts are called "liberal"
for a reason: Once we, the 1iberal
arts majors of the world, are unem-
ployed graduates, we will immedi-
ately become very
much in favor of
liberal welfare
policies.
The only ques-
tion, really, is why
engineering in' t ~ c
called "the conser-
vative arts. " kF u .
The atoughest4 ..
test we liberal arts
majors face--the
engineers con- BRENT
stantlysassure us MCINTOSH
that this is true -
is which major to choose.
Forme, several concentrationsboth
liberal arts and hard sciences, dis-
qualified themselves immediately.
Chemistry, for example, was not an
option: Any major that requires safety
glasses is out of the question. Physics
1 also ruled out, perhaps wrongly: I
thought it was concerned with those
high school sports "physicals," and
that "Drop your drawers and cough"
routine just doesn't do anything for
me.
There was a possibility that I would
become an art history major, but any
thought of that was quashed when
my father sat me down and issued
this stern warning: "This is a truth
of near Biblical proportions, Brent:
'Once thou art a student of the his-
tory of art, thine hopes of contract-
ing gainful employment surely art
history."' Art history, it seems, is
perfectly named.
Psychology was a possible major
until I took an introductory class and
began diagnosing myself with vari-
ous incurable mental illnesses. Had I
chosen psych, I'm fairly sure I would
have felt the obligation to check my-
self into an institution by midway
through my junior year.
I thought briefly about majoring in
women's studies, but ... (Please fill in
your own punchline here).
Speaking of punchlines, being
quite sure that I lived on Earth, I
decided to take a geological sci-
ences minicourse as a freshman. This
particular one was titled "The His-
tory of the Ocean." During the en
tire course, the professor smiled only
once: Late in the term, I suddenly
awoke to hear him finish off a joke
with the line "... and the farmer says
to the geologist, 'You mean the
weather over the Pacific caused that
rattlesnake to bite me?"' This
brought uproarious laughter to my
classmates -even the football play-
ers - and a smile to my dear
instructor's face; sadly, my sleep
habits forced me to miss the humor.
Please ... I implore you: If you know
the setup for that joke, call me. E-mail
me. Get in contact somehow. Soon.
Now. I refuse to believe there is a joke
that can make that particular punchline
funny. Until you tell me the joke, I will
continue to be haunted by the image of
people laughing at weather and rattle-
snakes. I may have to check myself into
that institution yet.
Needless to say, geology did not
become my choice of major.
Neither did math. I took a math
class, but all those symbols over-
whelmed my meager brain ... it was
all Greek to me. Any thought of ma-
joring in Greek rather obviously fell
prey to the same drawback.
I considered other languages also,'
in some cases accidentally. Italianwas
an option, until a friend kindly pointed
out that the major was Italian, the
language, not Italian, the food. eIthen
proceeded to make the same exact.
mistake with Chinese, Japanese, Ko
rean and French; that error did not
plague me, however, with English or
German, which you will easily under- -
stand if you've ever eaten in England
or Germany.
At one point I had settled on major-
ing in Polish, thinking I could make a
nice living shining shoes in airports.
Unfortunately, my instructors' lack
of English proficiency meant I had to
take five terms of the language before
one could explain to me, in Polish of
course, that the Polish I was studying
had nothing to do with shoe polish.
What a waste of 19 credits that was.
I finally settled on double-majoring
in political science and economics.
"How exciting!" you say. Not re-
ally, I assure you.
Political science is better known as
"Are you sure I can'tjust be a pre-law
major?" Economics, on the other hand,
is subtitled "Mastering the ability to
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How TO CONTACT THEm
MAUREEN HARTFORD
VICE PRESIDENT FOR STUDENT AFFAIRS
6015 FLEMING BUILDING
ANN ARBOR, MI 48104
764-5132
ROYSTER HARPER
DEAN OF STUDENTS
3000 MICHIGAN UNION
ANN ARBOR, M1 48104
7A 7A')l
DELORIES SLOAN
ASSOCIATE DEAN OF STUDENTS
3000 MICHIGAN UNION
ANN ARBOR, MI 48104
7F7..1 'q
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