4- The Michigan Daily - Tuesday, February 4, 1997 (The Libim &dg 420 Maynard Street ....:. Ann Arbor, MI 481094 Edited and managed by students at thes University of Michigan. JOSH WHITE Editor in Chief ERIN MARSH Editorial Page Editor NOTABLE QUOTABLE, 'He has a strong sense of values that earn the respect of those around him. It is that sense of value that I think will make him a very good leader.' - Former University President James Duderstadt of his successor; Lee Bollinger YUK UNiYKI GROUND ZERO 'Militant-style' 0 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 Umiting ential LSA should end its term limits for GSIs HOW TO S rOT to SEF. S. bp ____ Sc9 A. 0 Tuition bills can be an obstacle in the path to education. Loans and scholar- ships help fill the gap during undergraduate years, but options become limited when stu- dents face the larger expenses of graduate school tuition. Many students decide to teach undergraduate classes to alleviate some of the financial burden. The College of Literature, Science and the Arts has a policy that prevents students from having the option to teach during the entirety of their education by limiting them to five years of Graduate Student Instructor eligi- bility. The 10-semester limit hurts doctoral candidates who frequently require more than five years of graduate study. LSA should rescind the policy - by doing so, it could provide its students with more experi- enced instruction while offering graduate students a means by which to afford their education. Ideally, students could receive a doctor- ate from the University after five years of course work. However, reality dictates that many students fail to meet requirements in five years. As a result, students without fel- lowships or research assistantships face large tuition bills. Budget-strapped students may have to overload themselves with diffi- cult class work or drop out - impeding the University's commitment to education. In 1988, LSA adopted the "10-term rule" to prevent graduate students from using teaching positions as a means of per- manent employment. The rule calls for graduate program reorganization to make five-year graduation feasible. LSA should not mandate that graduate programs adjust their curriculum to accom- modate the policy - the policy's call for students to complete graduation require- ments is unreasonable. With a large portion of graduate students taking more than the recommended five years to obtain their degree, it is obvious that students aren't the problem. Rackham should act of its own accord and reorganize its graduate pro- grams to ensure the likelihood of timely graduation for every student - and prevent people from needing to take an extra year, or three. LSA's policy also threatens the quality of undergraduate education. Experience is an important trait in a teacher - GSIs with several years of classroom leadership serve as better teachers for difficult classes. By preventing them from teaching during the height of their ability, LSA is taking a direct swipe at its own potential for quality. Undergraduates deserve the teaching ability and knowledge of experienced GSIs to improve their education. Tonight, the Michigan Student Assembly will vote on a resolution to lobby against the policy and put a referendum question on the MSA election ballot to gauge students' feelings. MSA should do everything in its power to protect student interest in the classroom. The LSA administration has failed to put students' concerns ahead of its own policy. While graduate program changes are neces- sary, the schools themselves should make the changes - LSA makes the situation worse by imposing its own time limit. The policy should be withdrawn to allow quali- fied, intelligent students to receive the degree and assistance they deserve. 1S WONDIER 1'0 IK .wr o WILL $*KE' W PN ? A8J") *sa AppE CAl TOSE 7icxEtS. Isolt wffl3 S YOV sP Gt- 'TRE t w tiTH 4 R34W LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Growing awareness AIDS Awareness Week offers valuable lesson A s one of the fastest growing age groups to contract HIV, University students should take notice of the events planned to honor National AIDS Awareness Week. The University is sponsoring several programs to make the student community aware of the rapidly spreading epidemic and promote understanding. Several University organizations, such as the Affirmative Action Office, Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Programs Office, Multi- Ethnic Student Affairs and many more community organizations are sponsoring the week's events. The planned programs are a chance for the student community to enrich its education on a vastly important topic. AIDS awareness cannot be a completed task - individuals must constantly update their knowledge. The community is contin- ually discovering new perspectives, devel- opments and treatments. Students who con- sider themselves aware have made a step in the right direction, but should in no way consider their knowledge complete. The week's activities are a good example of the ways in which students can seek out oppor- tunities and augment their existing knowl- edge of HIV and AIDS. The AIDS Memorial Quilt will be on display Feb. 6-9 in the University Track & Tennis Building. The display is a valuable way for University students and community members to understand the widespread effects of AIDS. According to Dave Lieber, member of the Ann Arbor Jaycees Foundation (a co-sponsor of this week's events), the quilt helps to put a name on the endless statistics, as well as allowing stu- dents to walk away with the feeling that exempt from the disease. In addition, several informational speak- ers, programs and workshops will take place on campus this week: " Dr. Powell Kazanjian will speak about "Advances in Treatment for HIV/AIDS" on Feb. 4 at the School of Public Health II. * "Jeffrey," a feature film based on the award-winning play, will be showing at the Michigan Theater on Feb. 4. " A brief service titled "Spiritual Strength for Survivar' will precede a can- dlelight march, music and poetry readings in the Michigan Union on Feb. 4. * On Feb. 5, LGBPO will host a safer- sex workshop, addressing women who have sex with women and men who have sex with men. " In the Union, on Feb. 5, poet-activist River Huston will discuss her personal experiences living with AIDS. Students and community members should take advantage of opportunities to gain more knowledge about HIV and AIDS this week - there is no excuse to plead ignorance when so many easily-accessible programs are available so close to home. AIDS matters to the University commu- nity - it is the No. 1 killer of people between the ages of 25-44. Of immediate local concern, Washtenaw County reports the second highest number of AIDS cases in the state. Students are responsible for informing themselves - they can never know too much about HIV and preventative measures. The events of National AIDS Awareness Week remind us that HIV remains a threat. By acquiring information about the disease and knowing how to prevent transmission, Official language is necessary for unity, access To THE DAILY: There is a much larger issue at hand that is ignored in the editorial entitled "Common language?" (1/28/97). Regardless of whether this law to make English the official language of Michigan passes, the fact remains that large portions of the population are unable to understand and be under- stood by other portions of the population. This is not about "oppression" or violation of the First Amendment, it is about trying to empower peo- ple to give them access; access to more opportunities, higher income and higher education, to name a few. Without the ability to speak and understand English, access to these things becomes much more elusive. Being able to communi- cate with each other is quite a leap from "homogeneity." Encouraging all residents to learn to speak English does not equate to condoning intolerance of other lan- guages or cultures. My mother came to this country with very poor English skills. While my father went to work, my mother's job was to watch television to strengthen her language skills. I firmly believe that this has con- tributed a great deal to the quality of life my brothers and I now have. Does this mean that we have forgotten our cultural heritage? Absolutely not. I am proud of my Chinese heritage and my family's ability to use the English language to share it with other Americans is a wonderful thing. Those who think cultural identity and pride are defined by language need to look deeper. Diversity is a beautiful thing, but so is communica- tion. Without a common lan- guage to unite us, we risk becoming no more than sepa- rate groups contained and confined in various compart- ments of society. We have so many divisive issues at hand already, how can we ever hope to understand each other if we can't understand each other? We need to be able to communicate on the surface before we can ever hope to communicate on a deeper level. Language is a powerful tool, too powerful to go unused in our fight to reach common ground. We must empower, not shelter. Whether this law is the answer is not clear to me, but Hill" (1/27/97). I found the review rather enjoyable until I came to the paragraph that covered the Drop Caps per- formance, which featured vocalist/bass guitarist Mike Gordon of Phish. I was shocked at the downright rude comments that surfaced. It was made explicitly clear that Smith- Lindall is hardly a Phish "phan," but the ill-mannered and petulant avowals about Mike Gordon's performance abilities were beyond inap- propriate for an otherwise satisfactory review. I didn't read the article to see a multi-talented, dedicated and experienced musician verbal- ly slaughtered. Despite my growing ire over reading about Mike Gordon's supposed "unschooled vocals and blandly plodding bass line" and "meandering bass solo that bogged down whatever energy had been created" I "plodded" my way through the remainder of the review to find nothing but glowing comments for every other performer at the festival. I re- read the introductory para- graphs and again found only honey-dripping comments suffused throughout. The only askew remarks in the entirety of the article were within the Drop Caps para- graph and they certainly weren't directed at the other, non-Phish members of the band. In fact, the other band members, in their two words of glory granted by the author, were shown to pos- sess "skilled musicianship,' but this was only when Mike Gordon stepped aside. It was insinuated that Gordon performed poorly, dragged the Drop Caps down, and was not "schooled" enough to play at this festival, leaving the read- er to conclude that it was Gordon's fault that the band "tried to groove but did not succeed.' The goal of this article seemed to be to sing the praises of the festival and to illustrate what a "diverse and entertaining evening" it was. Aside from the one negative paragraph, it did just that. While I see a concert review as a means of cover- ing an event in both fact and opinion, I find it very unpro- fessional for a writer to put in his or her own personal dislikes in such an extreme and derogatory fashion. If the intent of the writer was to cover "an outstanding evening of performances' perhaps Smith-Lindall could have put less energy into making Mike Gordon look incompetent and more energy into promoting the Drop Caps, who were clearly left in the dust to make room for personal repugnance directed unnecessary and unrequested opinions, especially when addressing such a large audi- ence of "phans" here at the University. KwIsTA SCHMIDT LSA FIRST-YEAR STUDENT American education systems are not the best To THE DAILY: Your editorial on Gov. John Engler's plan to have the state take over failing school districts ("Educational takeover," 1/30/97) was a dis- appointing and parochial defense of the American way of organizing public schools. It is a shame that more Americans, especially politi- cians and newspaper editorial writers, do not travel more and learn about how things are done in other countries. Too many of us think that the American way is always the best. It is not. Our school system is a prime case in point. It is dismal in compari- son with the systems in most other industrialized countries. You say, "running a school district is a local issue and should remain a local issue.' Well, in countries where the schools are better, running the schools is not a local issue, but a provincial or even a national issue. Our schools would be better and our school system would be fairer and more democratic if the system were more cen- trally organized. The idea that each local school district has to fashion its own curricu- lum, for example, is absurd. Children need the same edu- cational opportunities regard- less of where they live. Engler's proposal is not the final answer. Similar state takeovers in New Jersey have resulted in only modest improvements. Children are still forced to attend the schools of the district they live in, while the state does not have the power to prevent the best and most experi- enced teachers from gravitat- ing to the more affluent school districts. But it is a step in the right direction. DAVID SIRKIN MEDICAL SCHOOL Online Daily keeps grads connected democracy N o two democracies are identical. Each has its own history, political institutions and cultural norms that shape the nature of governance and the relationship between people and the state. Germany, since the end of World War II, has enjoyed an era of what might be called "militant democracy:' The German constitution gives the state power to root out any threats to democ- ratic order, by almostany means effect, the govern- ment's principal . task is to ensure that Germany never again falls rule, from the right tancy is under- SAMUEL standable. The last GOODSTEIN German democra- GRAND cy - the Weimar ILLUSION Republic - was not militant enough; it is difficult to argue that civil liberties should be trea- sured in Germany to the extent they are in the United States. Who, after a would want to see neo-Nazi groups permitted to freely participate in the German democratic system? There is, however, an inherent conflict in "militant-style" democracy: While it may be good for Germany (and the rest of Europe) that the government watches any groups that threaten democratic sta- bility, the government is given the power to decide which groups constitute a threat. Therefore, the government is given the authority to decide who pa ticipates in democracy. Enter the Church of Scientology. Developed in 1954 by L. Ron Hubbard, the Church of Scientology is a religion devoted to - according to its own liter- ature - "a voyage of self-discovery' Perhaps best known for the famous entertainers who belong to the church, Scientology is growing fast and gener- ating controversy worldwide. While Scientology was officially recognize_ as a religion in the United States in 1993, thereby becoming a tax-exempt organization, a host of European gov- ernments consider Scientology a cult, citing the fact that Scientologists prose- lytize and encourage members to spend large sums of money on church materi- al. Nowhere is Scientology receiving more attention, and scrutiny, than in Germany - which brings us back to the notion of militant democracy. The German government, particular- ly the southern states of Bavaria and Baden-Wuerttemberg, has decided that Scientology poses a clear and present threat to the German democratic sys- tem. On the basis that Scientology is a dangerous cult with fascistic tenden- cies, Scientologists are no longer per- mitted to hold government jobs in Bavaria; in Baden-Wuerttenberg they are under surveillance. One Germa4 politician called Scientology "a totali- tarian system and a violation of human rights."yA confidential phone line has been set up for people to supply infor- mation to the German intelligence ser- vice regarding Scientologist action. Are you uncomfortable yet, reader? Maybe you shouldn't be, if there is any evidence that Scientology poses a threat to democracy. If it does threaten democracy, maybe the United States in more trouble than Germany: Ther are millions of Scientologists in the U.S. and only 30,000 in Germany. The evidence appears to be nonexis- tent and the closest thing the German government offers is a statement that "Scientology can lead to psychological and physical dependency, to financial ruin and even to suicide.' This will not suffice. If Scientology leads to finan- cial ruin or dependency, it is no diffe ent from countless other organizations, if it leads to suicide, than suppressing it will hardly improve the situation. We should be uncomfortable - the German militant democracy is decid- ing that one particular religious group (religious, I say, not political) does not fit into the system; even worse, there is scant justification for this exclusion. When one religion is excluded from the political system, can others be too far behind? In this case, the answert4 probably yes. It is unlikely that Germany is on the verge of reverting to totalitarianism; however, this should not dampen the alarm with which we should view current developments. - Enter Guenter Muenzloher and Mauro. As reported in Newsday, Muenzloher's daughter was asked to switch schools because her father is a Scientologist; now his neighbors wi not talk to him. Mauro, a ScientooogiY entrepreneur, received a letter last December from the police, asking him to sign a declaration that neither he nor his employees are Scientologists and that he rejects the teachings of Scientology These stories are becom- 0