4 - The Michigan Daily - Tuesday, October 14, 1997 aloe wtichigum jDtfllu 420 Maynard Street Ann Arbor, MI 48109 Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan JOSH WHITE Editor in Chief ERIN MARSH Editorial Page Editor 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 Tim for aras SACUA should approve compensation policy U nlike most professionals working for Student evaluations of professors' quali- large companies, University faculty ty, filled out at the end of each semester, can never be certain when their next raise play a large role in determining faculty pay will come. The University's current policy raises. But these evaluations have consider- regarding faculty raises is vague - and able biases. In particular, women tend to not does not have an allowance for annual cost- fare as well as their male counterparts, of-living increases. A proposal presently especially in engineering and science class- working its way through the Faculty es. Similarly, large-class lecturers tend to Senate's Committee on the Economic get poorer ratings than professors who Status of the Faculty would establish a stan- teach small classes - a function of the'size dard policy for professors' pay raises. of the class and relative distance, rather Establishing such a policy could solve some than quality of teaching. While it is impor- of the present evaluation process's problems tant to increase student-faculty contact, the and help make recruiting high-quality fac- present problem must be dealt with. Since ulty easier. the professors' financial health is dependent The continuation of the University's aca- on the evaluations, it is important that the demic strength is dependent on the recruit- University devise a scheme to alleviate its ment and maintenance of a strong, academ- inherent biases. Such a process should be ically diverse faculty. In order to maintain part of a faculty compensation policy. the University's reputation as a strong Presently, the Faculty Senate's policy has research institution, the faculty must also be yet to make it out of the committee. After NOTABLE QUOTABLE, 'Sad to say, many American citizens fall to recognize the direct relevance of art to their lives.' From a federal study of fimding for the aris and the lack of support in the public and private sectors 1% 7 WAIHafW 12 4 t-1 4 L7 fH Do YYOA pots 7 A/ TT HAPERS TvEiOY HYE,1tj,-, E . E 4--T 15ECotMF eovERt -OA1Ep { ta NT ANDt a +'N (p+++B~*5TJN~. SCPArd. 5, 1 R "45uAY T1HIS Yc4,, Has 13EJIvt S'4' v..9 LETTERS TO) THE EDITOR' The ,ode - with ill its faults and nystery - t 5 a s Fs L a f s 0 research-oriented with a commitment to teaching. A strong faculty will enhance stu- dents' education and their University expe- rience - it is imperative that the adminis- tration work to develop a strong faculty. Faculty satisfaction with the University is heavily dependent on the financial rewards they reap. If the University has no compre- hensive plan to determine under what cir- cumstances professors will get pay raises, they may find high-quality professors hard to recruit. In addition, the University should reward professors who excel at their jobs. Innovative teaching methods, commitment to student concerns and strong research all help the University's overall picture - administrators should reward it. the committee passes it, the full Senate, the University administration and the University Board of Regents must approve it in order for it to go into effect. It is impor- tant for the faculty to play an integral role in the development of the policy as they are the ones whom it would affect the most. Academic excellence is a University tradi- tion that must continue. Without a plan to establish when faculty will get their raises, some professors may flee the University com- munity in order to be a part of a community that offers them a better financial guarantee. Administrators and faculty leaders must work together to ensure that the University retains high-quality professors and maintain the University's educational strength. Soapbox politics Legislators should not decide medicine's fate Last Wednesday, a two-thirds majority of the U.S. House of Representatives endorsed a ban on a form of late-term abortion, known in medical circles as intact dilation and extraction. Termed' "partial-birth abortion" by opposing groups, the procedure has elicited public disapproval from pro-life crusaders, and has become a central issue on Capitol Hill. Though Congressional opponents of the bill deem the abortion practice brutal and unnecessary, the final assessment of the surgical procedure's medical and ethical validity should not come from politicians - a group untrained in the realm of med- icine. Instead, the medical profession - the group with the most comprehensive understanding of the procedure - should decide for themselves the suitability of performing or undergoing the surgical pro- cedure. In the two years since the debate over the late-term abortion procedure first received national attention, the core issue has become diluted by the political maneuver- ing of candidates for public office and by sensationalism. In fact, supporters of the ban have used graphic pictures of doctors performing the procedure to strengthen their argument for abolishing the proce- dure. Bills over the past two years have even proposed stipulations requiring doctors to display such images to women considering the procedure. Such tactics appeal mainly to the emotional component of decision making and treat the need for a true under- standing of the issue as secondary. The use of the late-term abortion proce- dure as a political weapon further under- scores the need to remove the debate from Congressional jurisdiction. Even after Clinton vetoed an earlier version of the bill public office contenders. Illustrating the use of the issue as a vote-getting tactic, Rep. Joseph Canaday (R-Florida) told reporters that he and other supporters of the ban would publicize the issue before the 1998 elections. Indeed, the fair treatment of the issue is at stake as the debate stands to peak with elections looming on the horizon. In contrast to the mishandling of the late-term abortion debate in Washington, the medical arena stands as one of few - if not the only - forums where arguments and debates are tempered with true knowl- edge of the surgical procedure and its impli- cations. Some physicians have, for instance, deemed dilation and extraction one of the safest means of late-term abortion and have argued that it should remain available to those few women who require a late-term abortion to preserve their health or their lives. Neither graphic pictures nor political campaign can alter their thorough under- standing of the issue. The attack on late-term abortion proce- dures also represents a redirected crusade against abortion. If the ban becomes approved into law, the pro-life movement may seek to limit abortion on a procedure- by-procedure basis. So, even if the majority of Americans have not explicitly stated their will to do away with abortion, anti-abortion crusaders may seek to legislate abortion out of existence by prohibiting available surgi- cal procedures. Politicians should not approve the ban on abortion into law - doctors constitute a group better suited to treat the debate sensi- tively and effectively, without the influ- ences of sensationalism or politics. Though it possesses the power to decide this issue, Congress should defer jurisdiction to the medical arena to ensure a fair decision that U.S. must conserve energy now TO THE DAILY: On Monday, Oct. 6, stu- dents and faculty had the unique opportunity to watch a live satellite broadcast of the White House Summit on Climate Change. In prepara- tion for the Kyoto Conference in December, in which more than 160 nations are expected to sign onto an international treaty on greenhouse gas emission reductions, the White House held satellite feeds and local mini-confer- ences at 30 cities nationwide. The United States and the American people play a criti- cal role in international ener- gy and environmental policy. Thiough we make utp only 4 percent of the worlds popula- tion, we consume more than 20 percent of the world's energy supply. In fact, we are so wasteful and careless about energy that we use twice as much energy to cre- ate a unit of GDP as Japan and Germany do. One key component in reducing greenhouse gas and carbon dioxide emissions is cleaner, more efficient technology. At the local panel discus- sion Monday it was immi- nently clear that industries like the auto industry prefer a gradual shift into energy-effi- cient technologies. However, many of these technologies have been available for years but have not been available for public consumption because of our dependence on petroleum. Panelists at the White House gave examples of technology already being used like solar-powered tele- phones on highways and in National Parks. These techno- logical advancements, howev- er, have yet to become com- monplace in American house- holds. Our petroleum-based economy has dug us into a hole - a pit filled with pol- lution and resistance to change. Polluting industries such as the auto industry, oil, gas and utilities have spent more than $13 million on a massive public misinforma- tion campaign. While more than 2,700 of our top scien- tists and more than 2,500 of our top economists have called for the United States to take a global leadership role in climate change, polluting special interest groups are still trying to discredit the sci- ence on global warming that the overwhelming majority of Americans believe to be true. Global climate change is real. It is already happening. The 10 hottest years in the human record have all hap- pened since 1980. Glaciers worldwide are receding and melting. Outbreaks of tropi- cal diseases such as malaria and its inhabitants. MONA HANNA SNRE SENIOR, MSA ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES COMMISSION CHAIR Stereotype in cartoon was inaccurate TO THE DAILY: I am writing to point out the gross injustices commit- ted by Daily cartoonist Jordan Young in his cartoon of a male drinking countless beers in front of a clock that says "frat time." As a mem- ber of a fraternity, I feel that the cartoon is offensive, inac- curate and misrepresentative of the image fraternities are trying to convey. The cartoon, for example, depicts a fraternity member drinking many bottles of beer. This is terribly wrong. The container of choice for frat guys is the keg, not the bottle. The keg, after all, allows us to drink more, at a lower cost, and it allows us to utilize the beer bong more effectively. Plus, it provides us the opportunity to perform "keg stands," a ritual which demonstrates our manhood and conveys our status. Furthermore, you may recall that the fraternity mem- ber is sitting down, looking somewhat haggard, as if to imply that he is feeling the negative effects of the alco- hol. What slander! Did we forget that,membership in a fraternity is synonymous with invincibility? True frat stars have the supernatural ability to drink excessively without the slightest decline in physi- cal prowess. An accurate por- trayal would not have the boy sitting down, but rather, danc- ing wholeheartedly to the songs, "Boom Boom Boom," or "Let Me Clear My Throat." Finally, I ask myself, what the heck are these so called frat guys wearing? Certainly they were not wearing khai pants. And I don't believe I recall seeing a button-down Abercrombie shirt. Dirty white hats? None. C'mon Jordan, are these frat stars or Greenpeace activists? My point is this: those who are not in fraternities often get a distorted image of them. Perhaps if Jordan Young would join a fraternity, or even spend some time at one, he would come to understand that frat boys are not just about drinking beer, but a lot of it. Seriously, if you're going to stereotype, do it well. gation, but it doesn't seem that the Code panel went any further or perhaps even as far with its own search for the truth. How could this case be resolved if so much was left in doubt? Did the Code panel make an effort to produce evidence and testimony that would have corroborated or contradicted their testi- monies? If the defendant had ripped her blouse, could someone testify that it was the defendant who ripped it? If he had gotten into a fight that night or broke a window, where was the person he got in a fight with and where was there evidence the window had been broken and/or replaced? Was there anyone who was a witness to these events? If the accuser had been pulled toward the door in an effort to throw her out, where were the people who saw this? Did the two or three people who asked her to leave testify to doing so'? The only "facts" that can be deduced from this case are that a woman had gone to a party at a frat she had been banned from, the frat presi- dent had been drinking, and she left at least once. If the criminal justice system has lower standards then the University, as Mary Lou Antieau says, then shouldn't its investigation, trial and judgement of the cases brought before it be compa- rable or of even greater stan- dards? A student's expulsion and the validity of a sexual harassment claim seemed to depend on little more than the arbitrary decision of five students as to whose story to believe, and I wonder if this would have turned over to an actual court if either of those conclusions had been reached. MICHAEL GALLOWAY LSA JUNIOR Photo of anthem was confusing TO THE DAILY: The Oct. 6 edition of the Daily had an article on the celebration of Gandhi's birth- day ("Tree recognizes Gandhi"). The article had a photo showing an Indian American singing the the Indian national anthem. I was puzzled by this, since as citi- zens of the United States, the national anthem for Indian Americans is the "Star Spangled Banner" and not the Indian national anthem. Doesn't it seem unpatriot- ic for citizens of one country to sing the national anthem of another? Moreover, the photo showed the singer with her hainds together nalms facing is 'hee to stay F or those ho don't know what it is, recer coverage and a long explanation bably won't do very0 much to cony what The Code of Student Condt is all about or even what its funn is on camp. Years of read about it d watching it fr afar probal won't do mu :m good either, a absorbing t University's pu lic relations sp on the Code's pu JOSH pose won't tui WHITE any heads all th. JUMPING quickly. THEGUN As evidenced a Daily editorial sterday, this news- paper has been sptical of the Code since its incepti in 1993, and for good reason. Athe chants of "no cops, no gunsjo code" roared across campus arin these pages just a few years agthis campus was given the Deptment of Publics« Safety, the office were then armed and a Code was deloped. While the argument still c be made (and should be made that the Code should nottexist atiis University or at any other colge campus im- America, perhaps It is not where our energy shou be focused According to the prrs that be, the Code is here to stay. In a recent discusm, Mary Lou Antieau said that e University Board of Regents ward a Code, has a Code and will alwahave a Code. Antieau, who adminirs the Code and has spent several yrs of her life; working with it, is ovinced that there is no way the reits will ever back down on their stte. Becaus the students have limitevoice on the board, and because Psident Lee Bollinger has all but sit down the idea of obtaining a studt regent by not supporting such a easure, the possibility of overturnin ie Code in its entirety is a futile 4z tiresome battle at best. So instead of wastinbreath on arguments that have no'uture, we should look at the proci itself an hope to make it better, A group of students, adinistrators and others reworked the C min 1995, with the charge of making a simpler document that clearly ates the University's principles andilues and reflects the community's tandards. While the Code was ref-med (it' earned its current simpler, ey-to-cite name and lost several pages text) its' most destructive elemer, wer retained. The University'sjudicial process - one that Antiea says is focused on education rather ian pun- ishment - remains mysterio, secret and utterly confusing. Antieau explains that the Cte is an "umbrella" process that overes sev- eral other judicial processes n cam- pus, including but not limite to the rules and regulations . ;fTD. Housing, and each individualschoo and college on campus, amgother If you break a rule in one arna, watch out. Antieau meets with th heads of each other group to decide ven cases need to move out of smalle processes and into The Big One. When an "eppropriate" punishment cannot be levied at a lower level, the cad of that x~ea may hand the case ovr for Code ] :view. After the initial contact the Offic (f Conflict Resolutioi decides vhether to pursue the case as a medi- ition or an arbitration- and from here the process slps belind a black :urtain. From the moment a case begins, all parties are requred to sign a statement that forbids them from ever discussing what happens in the case. Proceedings, discussibns, find- ings and punishments are dl hidden' in a Daily article this past Thursda ('The Code: Case 97-39"), one cas wins revealed from its beginnings; thoughthe process, to today. And the - on thing it clears up is that no one kniws what is going on in the hearing rooni. TNo sources, who wanted to remain namless due to the possible conse- quer:es of breaking their imposed silene, revealed what they observed in thtCode hearing room: from juve nile pnelists to pizza parties to a feelin of helplessness. Neither had an attrney nor any legal representa- tion. 3oth the accused and the accuse felt they were defending their positios and that they had no idea what thy were doing. With expulsion as a posiblity (albeit extremely rare), SAM SWARTZ SCHOOL JUNIOR BUSINESS 'Facts' of the