4 --.The Michigan Daily - Tuesday, November 12, 1996
Uitw Slidigan Dafig
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 the 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
Public choices
Open searches benefit 'U' community
"NOTABLE QUOTABLE,
'1 think it will be fairly brief. It's pretty
clear (Bollinger) wants the job.'
- Regent Shirley McFee (R-Battle Creek), speaking of the Lee
Bollingers contract signing with the University Board of Regents
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LETTERS To THE EDITOR
GRAND ILLUSION
God, Wlde and'i
Woody Allen
S unday was my birthday -as far as
birthdays go, it was OK, I guess.
The highlight was a card I got from a
friend of mine who is in rabbinical
school. I will call him Dreyfus, for the
sake of anonymity (anonymity i4
important to him, although I am not
exactly sure why
= actually,
Dreyfus sends me
cards with differ-
ent names every
time, to ensure his
anonymity fromr :Y
me - I have
already forgotten
his real name).
Dre fus was an
T he University Board of Regents are views. This would have al
trying to pass themselves off as inno- University community and the
cent victims of Michigan's Open Meetings learn more about the candidates.
Act. Last month, a local judge found a large for the presidency and their bac
portion of the recent University presidential As it turned out, several addit
search to be in violation of the act. views were unnecessary - futui
However, the regents claimed that the court Bollinger had already been ma
order - and the act itself - skewed the regents' favorite when the names
result of the search, making it more difficult finalists were released. Some re
to get to know the candidates. But the that Bollinger's University c
regents are missing the point -holding the gave him an advantage, and tha
final part of the search out in the open will was enhanced by the open meet
positively reinforce the choice of former However, it is the responsib
Law School Dean Lee Bollinger as James regents to hold meetings to get t
Duderstadt's successor. other candidates at least as w
The fact remains that OMA is the law - knew Bollinger. Closed meeti
and the presidential search committee vio- have favored Bollinger in the
lated it. Regents felt they could not talk open ones did - if his 21-year
openly to the candidates about certain top- University favored him at all.
ics, such as which University programs are The regents also have failed
academically inferior or the role of the an open search will broaden the
regents in the resination of ex-University the new president. The Universi
president James Duderstadt. nity had the opportunity to a
Their claims are invalid. The regents can about the candidates, and every(
and should ask whatever they feel is neces- on how the interview processl
sary during open candidate interviews. A Even if a constituency's first cho
good candidate would not shy away from selected as president, at least an
the tougher questions, nor would a good have a say in the process. I
regent - both can be critical of the searches that were conducted be
University. The University community does doors, portions of the communit
not want a president who would not project been suspicious - and fel
concrete opinions. The regents shouldn't because people did not have a
shy away from them either - and it's their selection. This time around, th
job to ask tough questions to choose the suspicion or feelings of ill will.
best possible candidate. Bollinger is the regents' chc
Moreover, if the regents are concerned 12th University president. In(
that outside pressures made it hard to get to ings, he not only handled the pre
know the candidates, they have only them- regents, but of the Universityi
selves to blame. The regents could have also. Open meetings helpedt
held additional meetings with the finalists. make a strong decision. The rej
Perhaps the regents could have narrowed plaints only serve to reflect poo
the list down to two candidates and invited decision. The regents must reali;
them back for another round of public inter- fits and conduct future searches
Teen..ptg&e trou bles
lowed the
regents to
their goals
kgrounds.
tional inter-
re president
rked as the
s of the four
gents claim
onnections
t advantage
ings.
ility of the
to know the
veli as they
ings would
same way
rstay at the
to see that
support for
ity commu-
ir opinions
one is clear
progressed.
dice was not
nyone could
n previous
hind closed
y may have
Jt slighted
say in the
ere is little
oice for the
open meet-
ssure of the
community
the regents
gents' com-
rly on their
ze the bene-
in public.
Welfare laws har
The United States is giving minor teen-
age mothers an ultimatum: Live with a
legal guardian and stay in school or lose all
welfare benefits. The new rules took effect
Oct. 1; they affect all new welfare appli-
cants. Existing recipients will become sub-
ject to the new rules when their cases
undergo an annual review. The new welfare
guidelines constitute a negative approach, to
teen-age welfare dependency - they
specifically target women and they fail to
provide for extenuating circumstances.
The new wave of welfare legislation at
the state and national level follows a long
push from Michigan to stiffen teen-age wel-
fare regulations. Maragrete Gravina, Wayne
County Family Independence Agency
spokesperson, has said that the government
has implemented the new restrictions to
teach teens to be independent. But this may
be difficult. Recent studies of welfare
recipients estimate that half of those who
give birth before age 18 have been sexually
abused, and that another 10 percent or more
have been physically abused - often at the
hands of parents. It is possible that the num-
bers are larger - not all survivors report
abuse.
The new legislation, though it allows
teens to live with "other legal guardians,"
makes it difficult for victims to leave abu-
sive parents. Teen-agers who seek to estab-
lish new parental guardians would undoubt-
edly become entangled in court and govern-
ment bureaucracy. Many teens will have to
choose between abuse and destitution.
m abused teens
claims are legitimate.
In the wake of the new policy, the Wayne
County Family Independence Agency has
reported a steady stream of frantic phone
calls from young women who say they have
nowhere to turn for a parental guardian.
Although the U.S. Department of Housing
and Urban Development has allotted $2.8
million to FIA to house such teens, the
money has yet to arrive. Therefore, housing
is still unavailable for many teen-age moth-
ers.
Statistics from a 1995 congressional
hearing show that the 70-percent poverty
rate of teen-age mothers is reduced to 34
percent when they retain the assistance of a
spouse or of the noncustodial father of their
children. The data marks the importance of
the father in improving the financial situa-
tion of the teen-age mother and her child.
However, the new policy does not focus
enough on fathers. Instead, it focuses more
on the mother, implying that most parental
responsibility should fall upon the female
parent. A more effective version of the law
would place similar obligations upon
fathers.
The new legislation shows that Congress
realizes that teen-age mothers without edu-
cation or parental support and supervision
stand very little chance of escaping poverty.
Yet its blanket policy fails to accommodate
the many special circumstances that sur-
round these welfare cases. Though the aim
of the bill - to place teen-age mothers in a
situation that provides financial mobility -
Evaluate
quality, not
gender
TO THE DAILY:
I happened upon your edi-
torial about gender bias in
student evaluations while
browsing the Nov. 8 Daily
Web Pages ("Tipping the
scales"). While I'm sure the
Center for Research on
Learning and Teaching's
study will prove very inter-
esting, focusing on gender
bias misses the point of eval-
uations.
An instructor should use
evaluations to determine
whether he/she succeeded in
providing students with the
instruction they needed to
succeed in the class. If the
instructor did not meet the
needs of the student (within
the scope available), then
he/she should address what it
will take to improve, regard-
less of his/her gender.
As a training and devel-
opment specialist for an aca-
demic medical center, I too
am evaluated by students on
their perceptions of my class-
es. If I rate low in an area, I
am expected to raise my skill
level, not claim gender bias. It
seems that perhaps what you
are determining to be "bias"
may be better addressed
through better preparation of
all instructors, both male and
female, on the fundamentals
of teaching others.
HEATHER FOOTE
UNIVERSITY ALUM
Too many fee
increase
proposals
To THE DAILY:
Attention: Students.
Do you want to pay hun-
dreds of dollars more in fee
increases or just $1? If you
pass the Project Serve and
Black Volunteer.Network fee
proposal, you will be paying
hundreds more. Community
service is a great and neces-
sary thing. No one disagrees
with that.
But why should we just
pass a ballot increase for
Project Serve and BVN? If
we are going to pass ballot
increases, why not support
Alternative Spring Break as a
separate ballot question? In
that case, why not support a
ballot question for groups
that are students of color?
These are great and neces-
sary things.
I am sure that Alianza and
La Voz would agree. What I
am getting at is that if we
support one group's attempt
to have a fee increase solely
for themselves, then we have
the simple and smart alterna-
tive. Remember on Nov. 20
and 21 to vote against the
increase of $1.50 for Project
Serve and BVN and to vote
for the $1 increase for MSA's
Budget Priorities Committee.
ANDY SCHOR
M SA REPRESENTATIVE
Hillary flirts
with truth
TO THE DAILY:
I personally think that
Hillary Clinton is a bad idea
for the country. While it is
true that Mrs. Clinton is very
intelligent and very capable, 1
do not trust her, nor do I
think that the people of the
United States trust her; lest
the Democrats would not
have made such an effort to
put her behind the scenes
("One powerful lady,"
11/7/96).
Putting aside the rather
distasteful issue of nepotism,
I think that Mrs. Clinton is a
little too power-hungry for
the good of the country.
When she took control of the
health care program I was
optimistic due to her business
experience and intelligence
that she would be able to
craft a reform program.
Instead, Mrs. Clinton
decided to bring a very
important issue and take it
out of the public spotlight
with her "secret commis-
sion." The resulting health-
care proposal was a statist
nightmare - with too much
power concentrated into the
hands of too few people. It
was far beyond what the peo-
ple of the nation wanted or
expected; and it was far from
good for the nation.
Even the Office of
Management and Budget
came out with a projected
figure which would have had
the debt incurred by her
health care plan above that of
defense, and that in only 10
years. Finally, Mrs. Clinton
has had her integrity put to
question in several investiga-
tions, many of which are still
underway. I view Mrs.
Clinton much as I view for-
mer President Richard
Nixon: A very capable, intel-
ligent person, but one who is
too willing to bend the rules.
This is not the type of
person whom I want taking a
leading role in the country.
JIM WHALL
UNIVERSITY ALUM
MSA: Don't
use posters
TO THE DAILY: ,
"But Serota said that even
without the resolution, pos-
dents is more important"
I recognize that Dan does
use about 10 percent of his
poster to shed a dim light on
a few of the things that he
believes, but it just seems
pretty ironic that he would be
discussing his party's deci-
sion to use limited postering
while having his name plas-
tered on every corner of cam-
pus. How much of the pro-
posed-fee increase will be
fed into the Serota postering
fund? Wouldn't it be better to
use all that board space to
help educate students about
the problems that Dan plans
to solve? Does it come as a
surprise that voter turnout is
so low for the Michigan
Student Assembly elections
when all anyone knows about
a candidate is that they can
get all the cool Diag boards?
I admit what Dan has
done is quite an accomplish-
ment. I have never seen any-
one monopolize that much
advertising space before, but
I think that we would all be
better off if he did what he
said or at least said what he
did.
JOSH SCOTT
CHRIS LEFFERDINK
SCHOOL OF BUSINESS
ADMINISTRATION
Coverage
was 'finest'
TO THE DAILY:
I've just finished reading
your Nov. 6 election issue,
and the accompanying spe-
cial section on Lee Bollinger,
and want to congratulate the
entire Daily staff.
Beyond any doubt, this is
one of the finest, most pro-
fessional, best-looking issues
ever published by the Daily
or, for that matter, by any
other college newspaper. I'm
very proud of all of you.
LEON JAROFF
CO-CHAIR, BOARD FOR
STUDENT PUBLICATIONS
Daily bungles
ballot issue
TO THE DAILY:
I was upset by an error in
your editorial page on
Tuesday, Nov. 5 ("The big
day"). Students depend on
the Daily to get correct infor-
mation about local elections,
since they are not always in
public spotlight. This was the
case with the Washtenaw
County proposal regarding
hunting.
The Daily stated that the
proposal was seeking to pro-
hibit hunting in Washtenaw
County, when in reality, the
oroosal was seeking to
undergraduate AMU
with me here at SAMUEL
the University, GOODSTEIN
although he grad-
uated two years before 1. Upon gradu-
ation, he went to the Wharton School
of Business, or the Wharton Business
School. I can't remember which. After
finishing at Wharton with a specializa-
tion in accounting, he realized he wng
an atheist. Well, with this new realiza-
tion the next logical step was rabbini-
cal school. 'This may seem like the
wrong place for a godless M.B.A., but
to Dreyfus it made all the sense in the
world. "Here at rabbinical school, I
have no worries. I spend the day in
study, which I love; I spend the nights
in leisure, which I love; I have great
friends, and we get free kosher nachos'
Rest assured, fellow Jews of the
world, Dreyfus has no intention of ev4
becoming a rabbi. Academia is his
calling, if you ask me. But I am getting
away from the point of this column.
The card he sent me is the point, and a
very interesting card it is. On the cover
is a man sitting at his desk in a rela-
tively nice office, which is in a rela-
tively nice building, which is in a very
mediocre city. Legal books and copies
of the U.S. tax code are stacked al'
around this poor man, and it is cle
that he is having a devilish time trying
to find some way for a wealthy client to
get wealthier by contributing less to the
tax system; at the same time, this young
attorney is trying to bill as many hours
as possible because he desperately
wants to become a partner before age
45, so he can enjoy the benefits of part-
nerhood for a few years before he
retires to the World of Golf. I know all
of this because at the bottom of the car
are printed the words, "Gee, I wish
could be out on the golf course!" There
does appear to be a picture of this man's
family in his office, but the picture is at
least nine or 10 years old (you can tell
by how young our protagonist looks in
the picture relative to his current state).
This card is clearly Dreyfus' idea of a
funny joke - the card is really a pro-
motional item for some golfing resort
in Florida, not a birthday card. At th
bottom of the card, Dreyfus scribbled in
his favorite Oscar Wilde quote:
"Somebody is boring me, I think it is
me." The message of the card is obvi-
ous: Don't let it happen to you.
Turning open the card, I found
another quotation: "What if everything,
is an illusion and nothing exists - in
that case, I definitely overpaid for my
carpet." Dreyfus claimed this quote as
his own, but I know it's a Woody Alle
line - Dreyfus has this habit of pla
giarizing Woody Allen. The point is,
Dreyfus and I have this ongoing debate
over whether or not God exists. Trust
me, you have not had a bizarre conver-.
sation until you try to convince a rab-
binical student that there may be a god,
While in the midst of contemplating
this very odd birthday card, my door.
bell rang. Perhaps a friend with a
birthday gift? Opening the door, I wa
unbelievably shocked to find the foip
lowing: four men dressed up as me.
Me! Now I have seen a number of
pretty good practical jokes in my life
(like the time my friend Mike left a
live horse in my bedroom) but this was
beyond absurd. The absurdity, oh read-
er, grows. Before I could ask these,
four guys why they were each wearing
items of clothing that I own, had their
hair combed like mine (which
amounts to not combed at all) an4
were standing in my doorway, they
burst into song. Their selection was
"Ich Grolle Nicht, which I kow js
either by Schubert or Schumann, bi-1l
can never remember which. If I am not
mistaken, "Ich Grolle Nicht" is.
German for "I bear no grudge," or,
something like that. However, since I
do not know who sends these guys to
my door, I don't know whether tb
messenger bears no grudge, or I beAU
no grudge. It turns out these guys were
from the Washtenaw Community
College Choir, and do singing
telegrams to raise a little extra cash.,
Question: How many times does one
have four people in his apartment that.
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