4 - The Michigan Daily - Friday, April 10, 1998 jfirtictig m ]4)ZClg 420 Maynard Street Ann Arbor, MI 48109 Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan LAURIE MAYK Editor in Chief JACK SCHILLACI Editorial Page Editor 'Let them eat cake. Unless otherwise noted, unsigned editorials reflect the opinion of the majority of the Daily s editorial boar. All other articles, letters and cartoons do not necessarily reflect the opinion of The Michigan Dail} FROM THE DAILY Moving o - Former Michigan Student Assembly Vice President Olga Savic, on her last day leading the assembly YUKI KUNIYUKI GROU ND ZERO ThII NEXT CP~1'Eg- W f~ °TnH S 1 LSA Dean Goldenberg The first female dean of the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts, Edie Goldenberg, announced on Monday that she will resign from her position in August. Having served as the dean of LSA for nine years, Goldenberg felt it was time for a change, both for herself and for the University. Through these years, Goldenberg has influ- enced and changed many: aspects of the University. Of the numerous and wide-ranging contribu- tions Goldenberg has made, many have been positive and, welcome Goldenberg improvements for LSA as well as for the University as a whole. Goldenberg worked closely and collaborated with deans from the other colleges of the University to share and integrate ideas. With a focus on quality, Goldenberg rebuilt many undergraduate programs as well as improving faculty recruitment and retention, while completing the most suc- cessful fund-raising campaign to increase the college's endowment. Because of these and other achieve- ments, Goldenberg became one of five finalists in the 1996 search for a new University president. But she is better known among much of the University community for declining her candidacy when the names of the candidates were forced into the public eye by the Open Meetings Act. resigns after nine years Other aspects of Goldenberg's tenure were controversial as well. While the implementation of many of her initiatives benefited the University and LSA stu- dents, the same initiatives neglected other parts of the University. Goldenberg great- ly expanded and improved entire depart- ments, such as the sciences, within LSA. But at the same time, departments such as communication studies and the journal- ism program were ignored and under bud- geted. G EjFCc;o4%r ____ vvctzrut- I H-E Sz I EAp AND Pw "IftjU Arf'oi-j-it2cfAME MYE,4gc IoN; +2 ? t TLAS ~ A e2.Op f 'Ii -4I r c R 5 -rtaQ ?"ti 8~5' 6$4 N' F { Goldenberg instituted the Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program and increased the amount and quality of undergraduate seminars. Her expansion of many of the living-learning communities, aided by the Division of Student Affairs was premature, and has consequently led to underdeveloped, yet overly ambitious programs. But in spite of controversy Edie Goldenberg's years as LSA dean were filled with projects and initiatives that changed and shaped the University; her contributions to the University were sub- stantial and significant. As the University administration begins its selection process to find Goldenberg's replace- ment, it should keep in mind the many benefits and problems that made up her tenure. LSA is the largest school at the University and the decisions pertaining to its running - facilitated by the dean - affect many students. LSA must continue to grow in the same manner that it did during her stay. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR A bureaucratic burden Childcare should come before the bottom line W hen President Bill Clinton promised to balance the budget, a new era focusing upon downsizing big government and finding cost-effective solutions began. One such cutback at the state level has not only decreased future spending but also the quality of services. The Family Independence Agency has run into prob- lems because of the state government's desire to cut back on overall spending. The agency subsidizes families' day care costs for children 12 and under by a certain amount depending on each family's overall income. The day care program has grown tremendously during the past two years from 26,351 families receiving subsidies to 52,858 families this February. With this tremendous growth, the agency's costs have grown rapidly and the state government appropriated $211.2 million for the agency in this year's budget. But problems originated when the state bought out 13 percent of the agency's employees last spring in an effort to save taxpayers' money. This buy-out program is good for decreasing government expendi- tures, but careful attention must be given to the bureaucratic agencies that lose a sub- stantial portion of their labor force. In a case like this one, the government scaled down an agency's workforce when a greater number of state residents needed its benefi- cial services. When government officials reduced the number of people working in the agency, they failed to realize the serious consequences of their actions. Replacements have been and are being trained to fill those vacant positions, but the entire transition period has put the FIA in a state of tremendous chaos. The people who are suffering the most from this breakdown are people on welfare they are employed. Through the government's actions, the situation has seriously deteriorat- ed - many childcare providers will no longer offer day care to children subsidized by the FIA because it owes money to the businesses. Of the 52,858 families receiving day care assistance in February, 10,123 families were on welfare; this is too large a percentage to ignore. New welfare laws, forcing people to get a job after a certain number of years, can- not work the way they were designed to if wel- fare recipients cannot leave their homes to search for employment. Currently, those wel- fare recipients receiving aid from the FIA cannot leave their homes without leaving their young children alone - childcare providers must accept children and parents on welfare. The burden of this bureaucratic inefficiency has fallen squarely upon the shoulders of indi- viduals who need day care subsidizes and the children whose lives will not improve unless their parents can take time to search for a job. In response to these concerns, the state initiated a program called Quick Start that speeds up the approval process of new day care applications by 35 days. This is mak- ing a significant difference in payments being made on time to newly approved applicants. But a greater problem exists in the re-approval process of current benefi- ciaries. Their paper work seems to fall to the bottom of bureaucratic paper stacks, forcing current day care providers to refuse children supported by the FIA. Greater efforts need to be made to put the FIA back on track, as it once was before workers were bought out by state government. Children and parents who need help should not have to suffer because state politicians failed to realize the consequences of their cost reducing actions. Government offi- cials need to fully assess the different con- 'U' admissions should be 'highest commitment' To THE DAILY: With all of the debate about affirmative action and University admissions in gen- eral, I'm surprised that nobody has taken on the true culprit. The University's poli- cy of rolling admissions con- stitutes a hurdle that it will have to overcome if it wants to draw from the most-quali- fied applicant pool possible. The University's rolling admissions policy causes many well-qualified students to sit in limbo while the University constructs a wait- list of all of the students who have met or exceeded the cri- teria for admission but can- not be admitted because other, potentially less-quali- fied students have already been admitted. This system causes some students to be denied admis- sion not on the basis of their merit or ethnic group, but simply on the basis of when they decided to bring their application to the post office. Over the past few years, the University has consistent- ly expanded freshman class sizes beyond the number that have been planned. This has caused housing problems, a restricted selection of classes (particularly seminars) for first-year students who regis- ter toward the end of class sign-ups, and countless hours of indecision and uncertainty in the lives of waitlisted applicants. Also, the rolling admissions policy requires the admissions office to spec- ulate on the quality of an incoming class long before even a fraction of the class to be has submitted an applica- tion. Why not just wait until all applications have been received and then evaluate the applicant pool based on a consistent and fair standard'? Of course, the rolling admissions policy can be seen as a way for the University to attract quali- fied students who wish to avoid waiting until mid- April for admissions results. There is nothing wrong with this in theory, but most highly competitive schools require that a prospective student agree to enroll if accepted via early decision. This system balances the effect of early admissions by assuming that students who are not willing to com- mit to enroll after early decision are not worth space in the first-year class. Such a system decreases the num- ber of early decision appli- cants, thereby lowering the amount of speculation required by admissions offi- cers and inresin the University's highest commit- D ment to its students, both cur- ally does rent and prospective. 01 cover al l MATTHEW MURPHY club sports LSA JUNIOR TO THE DAILY: Two winners could make everyone a lot happier TO THE DAILY: I would like to congratu- late the Michigan hockey team for their second nation- al championship in three years. My favorite memory, as I watched the final moments of the April 4 game, was sharing in the ecstacy of the Michigan team as I jumped around my apart- ment. But half of the camera shots were focused on the weeping Boston College team. I realized then, that this amazing contrast between agony and ecstacy wasn't nec- essary. There was a way every one could be happy. There are other sports where there does- n't have to be one national champion. As you may recall, the University of Nebraska's football team was spared this agony, when a select fraternity of college coaches decided to hand them one-fourth of the national championship hard- ware. Simply put, the game could have been called after regulation. Besides, Brian "sudden death" Engblom was so shocked that Boston College didn't win after three periods, he couldn't figure out that Michigan's 5-0-1 overtime record was better than Boston College's 1-2-5 record. I must admit, I'm more of a football fan than a hockey fan, and the split national championship seems like an answer to everybody's prayers. Remember kindergarten? Everybody should go home thinking they are winners. Well I guess that's whyhock- ey is the No. 3 revenue enhancer of all college sports. Go Blue ... and I love college hockey. SRIDHAR KAZA ENGINEERING SENIOR More minority college grads are needed TO THE DAILY: One of the most outstand- ing issues on campus is affir- mative action and the related lawsuits. Having looked at the amissions chart the onlv I would like to make a few comments regarding Daily Sports Writer Josh Kleinbaum's less-than- impressive article regarding the Michigan women's crew team ("Michigan rowing team to host cavaliers," 3/26/98). Though the article itself was clearly an indica- tion of Kleinbaum's person- al ignorance regarding the oldest sport in intercolle- giate athletics, the true pur- pose of this letter is the first two lines of the article: "Believe it or not, Michigan has a rowing team. And it's pretty good, too." I find it rather amusing that this line appeared in the Daily that recently claimed to be the source of "All your Michigan crew coverage." I find myself wondering if the exclusion of even the slightest mention of the men's team is a personal attack or merely the product of the highest form of intel- lectual incompetence. Now I know that the Daily has a policy regarding the coverage of'club teams, a convenient veil repeatedly used to cover up the Daily's journalistic shortcomings, but my first question has to be, why? Is the Daily so infantile that its only defini- tion for a student athlete derives from whom the University chooses to bestow Nike's self-promot- ing financial contributions? The fact that no club teams are covered in the Daily with even the slightest bit of respect is a gross misuse of the journalistic responsibili- ties it is ill-suited to fulfill. There are many student ath- letes at this University who do not receive free Nike sweats, and work just as hard as any to carry on the stellar tradition of Michigan athletics. Theexistence of club sports on this campus is a very significant community, and one that is completely ignored in the Daily. If the its job is to cover the various facets of life on campus, then I suggest that it actually ful- fill that role, or at the very least admit to its own incom- petence. The Daily claims not to have the manpower to cover every club sport. My response is this: Why did it waste the time, space and effort on a full-page article covering the bowling habits of the hockey team? If the absurdity of this fact is still lost on-the Daily, then I apol- ogize for taking a harsh tone with a paper clearly unable to nerceive neither a sense of Everything is political but after graduation, Iwontbe O nce again, we're down to the wire a week of class, a couple of finals and -- bam - another hash mark on the education tote-board .Just lik that, my undergraduate career will b done, diploma will be in the mail and the world will have one more political scientist who is never really cal led upon for his exper- tise in third-world political develop- ment,third-party candidates or Jeffersonian demo- PAUL cratic theory (that's SERILLA right, slid the thirdat there). Of course, like any college career much of my edu- cation came outside of the classroom, and that goes double for my knowledge of political science. One of the first things you learn while studying political science is thaO everyone outside your field understands politics better than you, and they are happy to tell you about it. You spend years of your life reading, studying, researching and discussing politics practical and philosophical - but still, everyone else is fully prepared to tell you that you are wrong. As soon as you are marked as a poli sci major, everyone moves in for the kill. Who knew that my uncle has th solution to the budget deficit - why h waited until the middle of Thanksgiving dinner to bring it up is beyond me; my barber, he knows how to reduce the wel- fare rolls, and that guy with the hot dog cart on campus, he's got the solution to the troubles in Northern Ireland. If they had only pointed out these stunning ideas earlier, I wouldn't have had to write all those term papers and do all that research. Somehow,I don't think this happens to navel architects: "You know Bob, I know you're one of those boat guys, but seriously, how on earth could you design a keel like that, what were you thinking? Oh yeah, that'll be $19.95 for the oil change." That's not to say that I regret studying political science. Like they say, every- thing's political, and in some sense, it's a basic truth, not in the same sense th physics is everywhere or philosoph majors are unemployable, but in the grand scheme of things, it's something you can hold on to. As I continue on to graduate school and eventually into the business world, though the academic realm of politics will cease to be a part of my life, I'm sure that my education in politics will continue. Politics is all around you, and if you are careful, you can always pick up a few pointers. * There is always someone out there pushing the boundaries and searching new territory. If you've been following the local political incubator, you know that our new Michigan Student Assembly president, Trent Thompson, has been researching one of the basic questions of American politics - how many drinks does it take to get the aver- age voter to care more about your piss- ant campaign than what's on basic cable? Shockingly, two-thirds of pote4 tial voters found voting for MSA more interesting than "Saved By the Bell" re- runs after only one shot. It's nice to see one of the red-tape makers of tomorrow taking such an interest in field research. Trent old buddy, buy yourself a Franklin Planner on us, you've earned it. Actually, I am going to miss the research. In fact, some other students and 1 just finished up a study on the influenc of the angry white male backlash on vo ing patterns. What we discovered was that the whole movement has really been mis- labeled, it is really the ugly, fat, white mate who can't get a date and tries to compen- sate by bitching all the time backlash. The greatest concentration of these tubby neo- conservatives is found in areas where con- venience stores carry less than eight van- eties of Hostess snack cakes, "Deep Space 9" had been removed from syndication, and women and minorities can get equal pay for equal work. It is difficult to find these bloated whiners in broad day light, but if ydu want to see one, any poorly lit space with either a large concentration of PCs (preferably UNIX) or comic books is a placemto start. You can also sometimes find them distributing one of the over- sized brochures they call "bi-monthly publications" out of the back of their mom's Buick. One note of caution: D not try approaching any of these anti- social boys in men's clothing, they are solitary creatures and if you make eye contact, you might end up in their death-wish column (see aforementioned publication) or in one of their on-line I