4 4A - The Michigan Daily - Thursday, October 2, 1997 UtIe £idligattn &lg 420 Maynard Street Ann Arbor, MI 48109 JOSH WHITE Editor in Chief Edited and managed by E students at the Editorial Page Editor :University of Michigan 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. FhOM THE DAILY :Troubleso Policy protects stu ast night, Jews across the globe began F" elebrating Rosh Hashanah, the Jefish New Year, which continues through toiorrow. Next Friday marks the begin- ning of the feast of Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement - the most important Jewish holy day. Thanks to the University's policy on religious-academic conflicts, Jewish students who wish to observe the holidays need not worry that they will have to sacri- fice their academic goals. Similarly, stu- dents of all faiths should know that their religious practices and observances are protected by the policy of religious-acade- mic conflicts. As students prepare for midterms and face increasingly heavy workloads as the semester progresses, fac- lty must adhere to the terms outlined in the policy to allow students the freedom to practice their faiths without fear of acade- mic punishment. In an e-mail message sent to all students this week, the Office of the Registrar explained the University's standing on reli- gious-academic conflicts. The policy, adopted in July 1996, states that if students provide reasonable notice for their absence, they may arrange for alternative opportuni- ties to complete coursework missed due to religious observances. The policy also states that if they encounter any difficulty, students can appeal to the department chair; if this, fails to solve the problem they should take' their case to either the dean of the school or the University Ombuds. This policy is extremely helpful to many University students for several reasons. First, it allows students to practice their religion without worrying that it will adversely affect their academic career. The ljicy acknowledges the importance of religipn in people's lives, and it lets stu- N 'Y k Going fom me timn dents' observances dents of all faiths avoid having to choose between their beliefs and their studies. Second, having an official policy on reli- gious-academic conflicts gives students a plan to fall back on if professors are unwilling to compromise, as well as a pro- cedure to file complaints. And third, an official policy creates a need for faculty to address the conflict and arrange for alter- natives; traditionally, some faculty ignored the importance of religious holidays by scheduling quizzes or tests with no alterna- tive make-up dates, forcing students to forgo religion for academics. Though the University's policy fills a need, it also consistently creates the con- flicts in the first place. Last year, the win- ter term final exam period coincided with the beginning of Passover, a time when most observing students want go home to celebrate with their families. This is just one example of several instances in which major religious holidays came into conflict with University scheduling. Even with the existence of the religious-academic con- flicts policy, the situation is not always easy for students. The University should take care in the future to avoid major con- flicts. Above all, it is important that students and the faculty are aware of the religious- academic conflicts policy. Students received information over e-mail last week, but because not all students use, e-mail, it would have been helpful to pursue other methods. The University especially needs to remind the faculty. To ensure that the policy is truly effective, both students and faculty need to be aware of how it works, so that students may pursue both spiritual and aca- demic goals without feeling pressured because the two conflict. NOTABLE QUOTABLE,, 'I just don't understand ... I was very stunned. I was shocked. It just seems such a stupid and pointless way to die.' - Julia Melik, an administrative assistant at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where an 18-year-old first- year student died of alcohol poisoning last week YuK KuNlYUKI GROUND ZERO ye a # -T R E A D - b o w . . ."e d e . N 7K iT Says RECTAL. PRot Ar.J) £107CMPA G W Fi NA 3CE 'O E . s )" k*o LETTERS TO THE EDITOR The challenges 6 the Mold .Transplant Games aim to encourage donors o publicize the need for organ donors, University Hospitals is working via the Internet to broadcast an important event fom down under. This week, 150 Americans will compete in more than 40 pompetitions, as the World Transplant Qames take place. Drawn from across the globe, the hundreds of competitors unite under a common experience: all have undergone organ transplants. University Hospitals has lent its support icy sponsoring a live Webcast of the scores and a national update of the events through the Website of TransWeb, a site dedicated to providing information on transplantation to potential donors and recipients. The Webcast, sponsors hope, will increase traf- fc to the site, spreading information about 4rgan transplants to a wider audience. As the 5,000 organs donated annually fall far ghort of accommodating the 55,000-person- fong waiting list, both the University and the game's sponsors have taken a much- needed step toward bringing the issue of organ donation squarely into global con- sciousness. Demonstrating the urgency of the issue, a 1996 report reveals that in the United States alone, 3,448 people died in 1995 while on the waiting list for a transplant. The high number of deaths stems largely from America's low number of donors: The FDA reports that only about 20 percent of the families of trauma victims consent to donating their loved ones' organs. Despite the chasm between demand for the problem proves relatively uncomplicat- ed, according to Congress. In a recent report, it contends that better public educa- tion and awareness could yield an 80-per- cent increase in organ donation. In light of this statistic, University Hospitals' partici- pation in publicizing the World Transplant Games constitutes a well-directed effort. Currently, many Americans do not know the protocol for making their organs and tis- sues available after their death. Probably the simplest and most effective means of ensur- ing organ donation merely demands that each person verbalizes his or her wishes to family members or next of kin so that the survivors may convey the wishes of the deceased to doctors. Though driver's license stickers and donor cards also act as means of ensuring donation, the possibility exists that they may be invalidated if a fam- ily member or next of kin disputes them. Michigan residents who wish to donate organs may also register with the Transplant Society of Michigan, which has recently initiated a database of the wishes of all Michigan residents who wish to leave behind their organs. The paucity of available organs costs the world thousands of lives annually. However, the situation does not have to exist. Publicity and education, as exemplified through the World Transplant Games, can do a great deal to aid those in need of trans- plants. Many resources exist to encourage organ donation, however, people must have both the knowledge and the desire to use Jewish community faces attack To THE DAILY: When I arrived at Hillel for a midnight service last Sunday, I overheard a very disturbing conversation. After the service I spoke with the person who told the story. The traumatized story- teller was a former University law student visiting from out of state for the football game. His route to the midnight ser- vice took him down Packard Street. He was wearing a black yarmulke (Jewish skull- cap). As he was about to cross a side street a car swerved out of its way to try to run him over. After they passed him, the people in the car shouted, "Kill the Jew!" He continued on his way to Hillel. Twice more the same car drove by him, on Wells and South Forest. Each time the people in the car yelled, "Kill the Jew!" This obviously sounds like a problem for the police, but he could not recall any identifying marks on the car. I, too, have had similar but not so life-threatening experi- ences in Ann Arbor. I will never wear a white kipah on Friday night again: When I was walking home one night on South Forest, a car drove by me. The people inside kept yelling, "Are you Jewish? Are you Jewish?" Other people in the Ann Arbor Jewish community have had similar experiences. In each instance, we all assumed that the offenders were students and, possibly, drunk. I would have hoped that human society would have evolved beyond the point of threatening bodily harm to those who hold cer- tain beliefs, especially in a university environment that preaches multiculturalism and tolerance. ZACHARY SACKS RACKHAM What $1.37 billion means to students To THE DAILY: I would like to start this with a congrats to the University's fundraising com- mittee. It has obviously put a great deal of hard work into this latest and largest cam- paign. However, the purpose of this letter is not a pat on the back, but a word of caution. I set out to discover exact- ly how much money $1.37 billion (the amount raised to date) is. Put in terms that apply to students, with $1.37 Milwaukee's Best (including deposit), which, if stacked three high and three deep, could make a glimmering silver wall from Ann Arbor to New Orleans. For the sports fan, you could use the funds to buy every student home football tickets until the year 2550. Alternatively, you could bribe every starter in the American League $10 million to ensure that the Tigers win the pen- nant. In all practicality, the University won't spend all this at once, but even the interest could have a pro- found impact, like paying the tuition for every single out- of-state student. My personal favorite is using the annual interest to hire one secretary for every 5 students to type their papers, take their calls, and go to class for them when they are sick. $1.37 billion is a lot of money, and I'm not implying that the University doesn't deserve it. This money repre- sents the power to make every student's education exceptional and I hope the regents keep that in mind when allocating its use. MARK GREELEY ENGINEERING JUNIOR No special treatment for children of alumni TO THE DAILY: I am writing in response to the letter titled "Affirmative action is un- American" (9/29/97). Hillson contradicts himself when he calls for our society to focus "only on merit," yet approves of preferential treatment for children of alumni. The pref- erential admission of "lega- cies" might be a profitable practice for those universities that engage in it, but is in fact the most unjust of all the admission policies mentioned in Hillson's letter. To their credit, the spirit of affirmative action policies is to seek out those who must work harder for their achieve- ments due to the discrimina- tory practices of our society. A good example of this is the disparity between the quality of the average high school education received by majori- ty and minority students, as mentioned by Hillson. On the other hand, prefer- ential admissions for the chil- dren of alumni aids those who need it least (usually upper-income individuals whose parents have a college education). What is worse, special treatment of legacies promotes racial and ethnic Affirmative action needs class analysis To THE DAILY: Gregory Hillson's recent letter on affirmative action ("Affirmative action is 'un- American,"' 9/29/97) inadver- tently highlights a crucial problem with the ongoing debate - it lacks a class analysis. When affirmative action opponents focus on issues of race, expressing their concerns about how affirma- tive action policies are patron- izing, counterproductive for racial harmony (and hence "racist") and many other flawed and conveniently self- serving arguments, they may move some auditors to con- clude that perhaps affirmative action is, after all, the wrong answer to a regrettable (but essentially ignorable) series of historical injustices. What is conveniently ignored is the underlying role of economic class in keeping certain groups from getting a seat at the table of American prosperity. Even Hillson admits that substandard school systems contribute to the disparity between blacks and whites in the United States. What he never addresses is why it "just so happens" that a dis- proportionate number of African Americans live below the poverty line. Just as opponents of busing as a solution to integrating schools ignored the fact that economic differences kept most black Americans from being able to live in communi- ties with decent schools (leav- ing aside the outright discrimi- nation that barred them from free access to many neighbor- hoods), affirmative action opponents like to gloss over the ways in which poverty leaves so many citizens from the advantages that make gain- ing acceptance to universities of the quality of the University of Michigan imaginable. Of cours, there are mil- lions of poor whites in this country, and they, too, should be getting helped to gain access to a better economic life. So, if affirmative action is extended explicitly to reach the poor, regardless of ethnici- ty, then critics like Hillson will have to face up to a reali- ty I suspect they would prefer to avoid: what galls them about affirmative action is that it is not designed to help those who already have a seat at the feast, or a leg up toward securing one. Would middle-class folks at the University and else- where be willing to support a system that would bring more and changes of old age escape us ifwe let them M y brothers and I used to spend a week every summer with my grandparents, who would shamelessly spoil us. We'd sit around the entire afternoon and eat popsicles and pota- to chips, and then go to a movie or a base- ball game. Birthdays meant 1 piles of presents that later meant hours of fun with new toys instead of clothes or money or some- MEGAN thing else boring SCHIMPF to 10- and 12- PRESCRIPTIONS year-olds. yAnd-then the years passed. And gradually we all got older. Until one day I turned around and they were old. Not just grandparent old, but old-person old. The gulf between older and younger people grows.until the dy when strength and vibrance fade a little and things change forever. It is difficult, as someone who is currently in the prime of life, to comprehend the day- to-day routine of someone who has aged. It is a life without planners, lunch dates, coffee shops, new music or a quick pace. Instead of eight things in an hour, there are one or two events a week that become immeasur- ably valuable. These little things, these all-too-short times with loved ones, become preciously anticipated. and clung to. It is a life lived vicariously throughw children, nieces, nephews and grand- children. And through oneself, years ago. It is a time, instead of looking ahead and wondering what the future holds, to reflect on what one's life holds in its history. It is a time to pass on that knowledge, instead of absorbing it. To young people, unfamiliar with serious confusion and able to recite any number of passwords and PINs, the loss of lucidity that eventually accompanies old age is frightening. To those of us accustomed to knowing minute detail for bubble exams and blue books, it is unsettling to compre hend how a mind could forget when one's spouse died or how one's parents died. Or why the mind can remember one's own date of birth but not one's age. It is even more confusing to watch a person you know and love regress.. from the self you remember. And to know that you have forever lost part of who that personality was. But you have not lost that person. Yet. The safe little world called child- hood is sealed away safely forever in memory. But time moves on, and" changes become noticeable. Suddenly, part of that security disappears: If old age can claim someone who was once strong and protecting, what will it eventually do to you? This immediate frailty and mortality are deeply unsettling and tear at the naive security of believing everyone will live forever. In the midst of fear- ing the distant future comes the desire to grasp onto the present. So you buy a tape recorder to remember voices and stories. You take pictures and frame older ones. You take the time to visit, even if it causes havoc to the rest of your week. Because there's still something there, but it won't last forever. And now you realize it can't always be the way it was. I spent time with a 94-year-old, woman earlier this week who says she is ready to die. The statement sounds as bluntly real as it is. And yet she is not waiting to die, a trap many older people either fall into, or are assumed to have. Her personal., determination has taken her from a wheelchair to a walker to a cane. She walks upaand down a hall six times a day to avoid becoming a "sitter." Physical therapy every morning and night is building strength, preventing dizzy spells and allowing the simple freedom of moving her fingers at will. Unclenching her fist is an act of incredible pride. But she can do it. Our inclination is to be surprised and impressed by these simple acts of dex- terity and perseverance, to look at this woman through two good eyes and with our nimble fingers and smile as if we were looking at a 5-year-old who just finger-painted. Because little things like walking without falling down are not consciously appreciated by most people in their 20s. Yet here is the truth: She is living. She~ hs oals. she ha s a schedule, she lp 0 0 0 .. 0 0 0 0 V S f