4A - The Michigan Daily - Thursday, January 18, 1996 * ie Midigan Palig 420 Maynard Street MICHAEL ROSENBERG Ann Arbor, MI 48109 Editor in Chief Edited and managed by V JULIE BECKER students at the JAMES M. NAsA University of Michigan Editorial Page Editors Unless otherwise noted, unsigned editorials reflect the opinion of a majority of the Dailv's editorial board. All other articles, letters, and cartoons do not necessarily reflect the opinion of The Michigan Daily. Free lessons '' Law student exposes city's h iring blunder *As women risein zkerfeldi men * fear endangered-species status T he University is proud of its reputation for providing students with knowledge they can use. Seldom does it get immediate proof of the image. Third-year Law student John Polish is certainly fulfilling his end of the bargain. Polish filed a lawsuit earlier this month, challenging the hiring of new Ann Arbor City Attorney Abigail Elias. Polish claims in his suit that Elias' contract violates the Char- ter of Ann Arbor. According to the charter, city officials must live in Ann Arbor for at least a year "immediately preceding election or appointment." Elias has not lived in Ann Arbor for a year, but the offer she received allows her to establish residence within Ann Arbor 12 months after her appointment. Polish may have filed the suit merely for attention. He may be looking for another bullet on his resume. Or he may have been telling the truth when he said he wants to do taxpayers a favor - they should not have to foot the bill for the salary of a city employee who lives outside of the city. Regardless of his motives, Polish's suit is ridiculous. It will waste the court's time and the taxpayers' money. Unfortunately, it is also on target. The city did violate the charter by offering Elias, a deal not in accordance with existing law. Both Polish and his attor- ney claim they feel Elias is qualified for the job. They don't even want to challenge the city charter. Instead, they claim they want to make sure the taxpayers don't have to uphold their end of the bargain when Elias does not. The City Council presents what may be valid reasons for offering Elias an abridged contract. The council wanted to find the best person for the job, even if he or she is not a resident of Ann Arbor. Before accepting the job, Elias told the council she did not want to immediately uproot her Detroit-based fam- ily to accept the job. If council members thought the current charter was outdated or unfair, they should have amended it. There are ways to change laws, and a responsible governing body knows what they are and uses them. To circumvent the city's charter is unethical, however honorable the intentions. The irony of the office in question - the city attorney - is almost laughable. How is the community expected to have faith in the legal abilities of a city attorney who accepted a contract that blatantly defied current city regulations? The City Council, not Polish, should feel the biggest burden of time and money from this embarrassing lawsuit. If council mem- bers had acted responsibly in the first place, they would not have to answer to the current charges. Unless the council goes about its business honestly, more Law students will no doubt have the opportunity to gain extra- curricular law experience at the expense of the city and its taxpayers, just as John Polish has. A bout two weeks ago, the American Bar Association released a report that said, in brief, that women aren't doing so well in the legal profession. They are paid less than men, get promoted less frequently and fill fewer positions on the bench and in law- school faculties. I suppose we shouldn't be surprised - I mean we've heard it all before. It's just that things were supposed to have changed. Actually, they have. They've gotten worse. The study found that the disparities in pay, promotion and opportunity between men and women in law have actually gotten bigger in recent years, despite the fact that women now make up 23 percent of the nation's lawyers and almost 50 percent of its law students. Interestingly enough, according to focus groups conducted by the ABA, male law- yers don't see it that way. Instead, they complain of a legal profession that offers "special consideration" to women. Paying them less and offering them fewer opportu- nities - that's some real special consider- ation. Apparently, men have felt that their op- portunities have been limited, and blame affirmative action for their woes. Funny how that works. Since 1987, promotion rates for women considered for partnership in eight of New York City's largest law firms dropped by 5 to 15 percent; for men the rates went from 21 to 17 percent. Men may have experienced the pinch of the recessionary '90s, but it was hardly due to affirmative action. The difference in salaries is even more disheartening. While men and women tend to begin their legal careers with just a slight difference in pay (although note that the disparity, even if it is slight, occurs right off the bat), the numbers for men climb faster and steeper than those for women. In Colo- rado law firms, for example, women with 10 to 20 years of experience earn 76 percent as much as their male counterparts. And the ABA found pay disparities in law firms and companies across the nation, at every level of seniority. What makes this study even more de- pressing is that it was conducted by the ABA itself, which would have much preferred to tell a different tale. We can't disregard this as a study that had its answers before it was conducted; the ABA had nothing to gain by exaggerating its figures. The researchers were careful to take all factors into consideration, noting, for in- stance, that women work for the government and in public-interest law in disproportion- ately high numbers, where lawyers tend to receive lower salaries than in the private sector. But the study corrected for this, as it did for lawyers taking maternal, and pater- nal, leave. They looked at individual cities and types of firms, seeking to compare like situations rather than report general, mean- ingless statistics. Yet the numbers still look grim, and the anecdotal evidence used as examples paints an even uglier picture. The report details women not getting credit for their achieve- ments, being discouraged from having chil- dren and returning to their practices and being excluded from firms' "male" activi- ties. Moreover, the study shows that in law schools across the nation hostility toward women is on the rise. It appears some male law-school stu- dents resent women's presence intheirclass- rooms. They're upset about affirmative ac- tion as well. So not only has equal opportunity re- gressed for female lawyers in the last de- cade, but they are suffering a backlash from men who believe otherwise. The study cites incidents of women being called "femi-Na- zis" (I know, I know, your favorite and mine) by male peers and ignored by male faculty. Researchers likened the atmosphere for women in law school now to that of the early '70s, when women made up only 3 percent of law-school students. The significance of the ABA's study obviously reaches well beyond law. If law- yers and lawyer-wannabes, who know bet- ter than anyone about sexual discrimination cases and lawsuits, are giving women less opportunities and treating them with, to put it mildly, disrespect, chances are everyone else is too. Meanwhile, people all over the country are clamoring to get rid of affirmative ac- tion, saying it's already done the job, or it's bad for the self-esteem of women and mi- norities. It seems to me that getting paid less than other people doing the same work, being passed over for promotion and being treated like second-rate professionals is bad forself- esteem - not affirmative action. What we need to do is look at how' women and minorities are really faring in, this country, instead of lamenting the de- mise of the "endangered" great white male. The playing field is, as they like to say; still far from level. - Judith Kafka can be reached over e-mail at jkafka@umich.edU 0 0 MATT WIMSATT ~-I Moo's DaIEMiA , - Q 4 A bitter harvest State's tobacco ties stain health message 'I r / '-- i oh (I-REFUGE Kr/- NOTABLE QUOTAi)ir 'I don't think the position of MSA has great Impact.' - Michigan Student Assembly Vice President Sam Goodstein, discuss- ing MSA 's support of the Graduate Employees Organization resolution 16 DR1Li4O RIGHTS 6 \ The state of Michigan spends millions of dollars each year convincing its citizens that smoking is bad for their health. At the same time, the Michigan Treasury has nearly $400 million directly invested in tobacco companies. News of these investments is distressing. Not only is it a conflict of interest for the state to invest in tobacco companies while trying to promote preventative health measures, it is unethical. Reports by the Michigan Department of Treasury show that the state pension fund for government employees, public school em- ployees, judges and state police owns 6.5 million shares of stock worth $393 million in five tobacco companies. Among the 35 states reporting such holdings, Michigan invested the most, according to a 1992 survey by the American Public Health Association. While Michigan invests in tobacco companies, it spends $1.5 million each year in broadcast messages against smoking, and another $3.5 million is spent on smoking prevention and cessation programs in local communities. Gov. John Engler's 1994 "Action Plan for Our Future" called on the treasury to recom- mend how best to sell off pension fund hold- ings in tobacco companies. "We will send a strong message to tobacco companies to stop targeting our children with their advertising and marketing slogans," Engler said. State Treasurer Douglas Roberts looked into di- vesting in tobacco companies, but decided How To CONTACT THEM against it. Engler relies on Roberts in invest- ment matters, and a spokesman for the gov- ernor said Roberts made effective arguments against selling the stocks. However, Engler should take a closer look. Smoking takes a great toll on Michigan residents, both in health and economic mat- ters. According to health officials, there were more than 16,000 smoking-related deaths in Michigan in 1993, the most recent year for which data is available. Beyond the human toll, the costs incurred by the state for smok- ing-related illnesses is staggering. A 1991 Centers for Disease Control report showed that smoking costs Michigan about $240 million a year in direct health care expenses. The treasurer now says he is "uncomfort- able" making ethical judgments about how to invest pension money. He would like to change the pension system to allow employ- ees to hire their own money managers and invest however they choose. The state has yet to solve its problem. Attorney General Frank Kelley has asked the governor to order the state to sell off its tobacco interests. State Sen. Henry Stallings (D-Detroit) plans to introduce legislation in the Senate to force the treasury to sell off the tobacco invest- ments. The governor should follow through with his promise and rid the state of its tobacco investment. It would reaffirm the state's public health policy and solve its moral predicament. DRILLING PROPERTY, Qi07 rTA SILUON FoR PRIME SBALANCE THAT BUDE T" I :i PRESS CLIPPINGS , . F Affirmative action still has a place By Kenji Hosokawa Many, these days, denigrate affirmative action as a practice that perpetuates African Ameri- cans' dependence on the govern- ment. This criticism, interest- ingly, is no longer endorsed just by angry Caucasians: numerous black intellectuals, like Clarence Thomas, also advocate this view. These conservatives say that the federal programs that provide special treatment to ethnic mi-, norities have allowed Caucasians to patronize them, thus preserv- ing dangerous racial stereotypes, such as "blacks are lazy." Instead, it is argued, by weaning them- selves from the government, people of color can learn to be- come self-sufficient, responsible citizens, who would then prove to society that they are indeed as equal as the rest of the American people. What is remarkable about this view is that it comes from the belief in the strong individual. A significant number of people ap- parently think that such an ab- stract Millian philosophy can somehow solve a major problem Hosokawa is a first-year student at Dartmouth College. This article is reprinted wilh permission ifoni The Dartmouth. of this society, namely the racial rift. This, to me, is remarkable because the view obviously ig- niores the fact that the modern world no longer resorts to such a platonic vision. Of course, there were times in our history when people's mere ideological convictions created impetuses for social progress. Belief in democracyforexample, united Americans to stand firmly against Communists. However, these times are behind us. As witnessed in the collapse of the Soviet Union and the crumbling state of North Korea. messianic ideologies can no longer sustain social stability. I do not deny that some parts of the world, like Bosnia, still cling to blind ide- ologies, but in the current West, practicality and rationality serve as the foundation of society. This trend is visible in the U.S. government's recent precondi- tions for Most Favored Nation status, most significant of which in the past was human rights, aggressively advocated by many Americans with ideological pas- sion. Now, however, an increas- ing number of elected officials emphasize practicality, viewing MFN status as a means to create strong business ties with devel- oping nations that can lead to cultural exchange resulting in the resolution of human rights prob- lems. This is why various politi- cians, abandoning the belief that there exists an intrinsic value in promoting such rights, are urging the administration to extend the status to China, despite its denial of human rights to many of its people. Just as most Palestinians care more about their tremendous un- employment than the euphemis- tic goals of their peace talks with Israelis, the vast majority of Afri- can Americans are concerned with their material well-being, not with whether Caucasians are patronizing them. According to Time magazine, only6percentof blacks feel that the government is excessively helping them. As long as there are virtually no African American high-level politicians or Fortune 500 CEOs, the black community will continue to feel victimized and want help. And this unhappiness surfaces occa- sionally, as it did during the O. J. Simpson trial, when polls re- vealed the deep mistrust of the police among African Americans. Even if the police eliminated all racist officers, as long as blacks saw that a third of their people in their 20s are incarcerated, on pro- bation, or on parole, many of them would always irrationally conclude that they are being wronged, even if such a reality were inevitable, given black so- cioeconomic status in the United States. Dinesh D'souza frequentlL discusses "rational racism." thinks the use of racial stereo- types to avoid unnecessary risks isjustified. No one should accuse: a cab driver for not picking' tup African American males after midnight, he says. The argument goes that the driver, calculating the chances of being robbedbyt white and black customers,isohly being forced to behave rationall' In order for society to oveI come its racial division, it nusi allow everyone to live without rely ing on rational racism. Soci- ety can achieve this only by trans- forming social realities to reflect the expectations of its people.:ir other words, the number of Afri- can Americans who are execu- tives must be proportionate to the number of African Americans in the population (unless you b lieve in the study showing that blacks are intellectually inferior to Asians and whites). Affirma- tive action can expedite the at- tainment of this result. Perhaps this may enforce white paternal- ism, but I doubt that most ethnic minorities care. Ultimately the practice will lead to interracial peace. WHAT'S ON YOUR MIND? \ V. XT T1 AT'V T V 01r Ann Arbor City Council Tobi Hanna-Davies (D-1st Ward), Patricia Vereen-Dixon (D-1st Ward), David Kwan (R-2nd Ward), Jane Lumm (R-2nd.Ward), Jean Carlberg (D-3rd Ward), Heidi Cowling Herrell (D-3rd Ward), Patrick Putman (R-4th Ward), Stephen Hartwell (D-4th Ward), Elisabeth Daley (D-5th Ward), Christopher Kolb (D-5th Ward) Ann Arbor City Hall 100 N. Fifth Ave. Ann Arbor, MI 48107 994-3313 ATTENTION FUTURE JOURNALISTS: WRITE FOR THE MICHIGAN DAILY. i