.Study: Female students'
LOCAL/STATE-
The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, September 9, 1998 - 5
attire affects exam performance
By Nika Schulte
Daily Staff Reporter
Inaddition to the number two pen-
cils and extra erasers most students
use to prepare for test days, LSA first-
year student Margaret Battersby
makes sure to have her flannel pajama
pants and a sweater.
Battersby said she wears the outfit
because it is comfortable.
"I need to be relaxed," Battersby
said. "I do better when I don't stress
out."
While many people might not think
that what is worn during a test can
affect the outcome, a recent study
finds a woman's comfort level about
their appearance during a test can
impact the results.
The research was conducted by
University Associate Professor of
psychology and women studies
Barbara Fredrickson, as well as
Rackham graduate students Diane
Quinn and Jean Twenge.
The study, which appeared recently
in the Journal of Personality and
Social Psychology, contained two
main experiments, one of which used
40 male and 42 female students from
the University.
Participants were told they were
participating in a consumer behavior
study.
After trying on either a sweater or a
swimsuit and evaluating the product,
participants were instructed to keep
the clothing on to answer further ques-
tions about the products' comfort.
During that wait, participants took
a math test, which they were told was
for another researcher.
Based on their high school stan-
dardized test scores, men's scores did
not vary based on the clothing they
were wearing, whereas women who
wore the swimsuit during the test did
worse than women wearing sweaters.
The results were exactly what the
group hypothesized, Fredrickson said.
"There is a peculiar orientation
toward not appreciating yourself
from your perspective, but from the
perspective of an observer,"
Fredrickson said. "Seeing yourself
from another perspective is taxing
and attentional resources are finite.
As a result, other tasks are going to
suffer."
While dressing comfortably allows
some students extra pride in test-tak-
ing abilities, others use an opposing
strategy.
LSA junior Viticia Thames said that
when she does not feel prepared for
an exam, she will dress-up in an effort
to boost her confidence.
"Dressing-up gives me more confi-
dence," Thames said. "No matter
what, I've got it together."
But some students said they do not
believe self-consciousness affects
academic performance.
LSA sophomore James De Vaney
said he thinks women are more self
conscious than men, but he assumed
it only impacted them socially.
"I didn't think girls would be
affected academically. I thought it just
determined whether they were shy ot
out-going," De Vaney said.
Fredrickson said she is conducting
further tests of the academic affects of
self confidence.
Artist fights to
save his work
Campus political
groups seek
new members
DETROIT (AP) - The artist
who created the piles of old shoes
and painted polka dots known as
the Heidelberg Project said yester-
day he has changed his mind about
dismantling it - on the same day
the deadline for its removal passed
and members of the City Council
vowed to use bulldozers to demol-
ish it.
"The best place for Heidelberg
is right here," said artist Tyree
Guyton, wearing a polka-dot hat
and standing in front of some of
the painted car hoods that make up
the 13-year-old project. "I don't
want to move it."
Visitors from 75 countries have
come to the Heidelberg Project,
where 200,000 signatures fill guest
books. Named for the street where it
is located, the installation of so-
called junk art consists of houses
and green lawns adorned with stuff
that most people might lose in the
depths of their basements.
Neighbors have complained, how-
ever, that the project is causing a
health hazard and drawing more
traffic than the street was intended
for.
At a meeting yesterday, the City
Council again extended for two
weeks the deadline it gave Guyton
to dismantle the project he had orig-
inally asked for an Aug. 24 dead-
lire, and then asked for an exten-
sion. But now Guyton refuses to
remove it at all.
"It's hard to turn your back on
all these people who want you to
stay," he said, as children and other
supporters surrounded him. "This
project was created for the peo-
ple."
Some council members did not
look kindly on the fact that the
deadline came and went with little
progress in removing the project.
"I view this to be a slap in the
face," council member Kay Everett
said. "It needs to be gone now. If it
can come down tomorrow, fine."
Marcia Bruhn, director of the city
planning commission, has been pro-
viding reports to the council on the
progress of dismantling the project.
But so far, she said the progress has-
n't been much.
"Ihey cleaned up some areas ...
but at the same time have added new
pieces," she said.
The council doesn't have the
power to tell a city department to
dismantle the project. That decision
must be made by Mayor Dennis
Archer's office which has also
said the other residents' interests
must come first.
"We recognize the artistic value
of the project and that the artist
places on it," Felix Sharpe, Archer's
legislative liaison to the council,
said yesterday.
"However, the mayor respects
the larger concerns of the residents
of the Heidelberg area with regard
to health hazards and traffic con-
By Kelly O'Connor
For the Daily
In preparation for a hectic cam-
paign season, two University politi-
cal groups will be holding their first
mass meetings of the year in the
upcoming weeks.
The two groups, on opposite sides
of the political spectrum both hold
mass meetings to promote aware-
ness of current political issues and
to encourage students to become
involved in politics.
LSA junior
Kelley Boland,
politics among students," Boland
said. "I don't think this year will be
any different."
College political groups often
have high-ranking politicians speak
at their mass meetings.
The College Republicans mass meet-
ing will feature speeches by well known
political figures such as Ann Arbor
Mayor Ingrid Sheldon and state House
candidate Garret Carlson. But the main
speaker is being kept under wraps.
"That name is not being released at
m
president of
the campus
chapter of the
College
Democrats,
said she is
"New members can
expect to ghet hands
on experience .."f
this time,"
Silver said:
"I'll just say
that it is
s o m e o n e
very well
known."
T h e
C o l1 e g e
Democrats
group does
not have a
AP PHOTO
Detroit artist Tyree Guyton has been in battle with the members of the Detroit
City Council for years over the dismantling of his Heidelberg Project.
gestion, etc." private land.
Even if the city eventually moves Guyton said he wants to keep the
in and dismantles the project, it project alive no matter what hap-
won't be able to take away every pens.
last painted shoe or rub away the "They have the power to knock it
last traces of every polka dot. Some down, and I also have the power to
of the displays, Bruhn said, are on put it back up," he said.
looking for-
ward to the
upcoming
meeting.
"We are expecting between 100
and 150 people, but we'll know bet-
ter after Festifall, which is where we
get most of our new recruits,"
Boland said.
Campus political leaders said they
expect the gubernatorial election to
increase student involvement in
campaigning. Incumbent Gov. John
Engler, running for his third term, is
opposed by Democrat Geoffrey
Fieger.
"We expect high numbers of stu-
dent participation. A large number
of Democrats do not even support
their candidate, Geoffrey Fieger, and
many will not be out to vote," said
Engineering senior Adam Silver.
"This will be a great year for
Michigan Republicans."
But Boland said she anticipates
increased activism by Democrats.
"In past presidential and guberna-
torial election years, we have
definitely seen a peaked interest in
-- Adam Silver
Engineering senior
Anti-Defamation League satisfied with
Fieger's apology for anti-religious comments
speaker slotted yet.
Most important, both presidents
say they want to get information out
to as many students as possible and
let them know how they can partici-
pate in the upcoming campaign and
other political activities.
"New members can expect to gain
hands on experience in the
Republican American political sys.
tem," Silver said. "Members of the
UMCR will help candidates by flier-
ing, chalking, rallying, etc. This is a
great experience for a. political sci-
ence major or anyone who wants to
make a difference in Michigan poli-
tics."
The College Republicans will
hold their mass meeting at 8:15 p.m.
on September 17 in the Pendleton
Room of the Michigan Union.
The mass meeting for College
Democrats will be held September
15. No location or time has been
announced.
LANSING (AP) - The Anti-Defamation
League, which last week called for Michigan
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Geoffrey
Fieger to apologize for comments it viewed as
anti-religious, said yesterday it's satisfied with
Fieger's apology.
"We are satisfied that Mr. Fieger understands
the implications of his past remarks and that they
have no place in civil discourse, especially from
someone in public life," said Abraham Foxman,
the league's national director.
The league received a letter yesterday from Fieger
xpressing "deep regret for any pain or offense" that
his past statements might have caused to Jews and
other religious groups, and stating, "I wished I never
had made them."
Last Wednesday, Foxman wrote a letter to Fieger in
which he said, "We find your widely reported past
comments likening Orthodox rabbis to Nazis and
holding certain Christian beliefs and practices up to
ridicule to be shockingly offensive, outrageous and
unacceptable.
"We are also troubled that you have tried to explain
them away rather than acknowledge that they were
wrong and offensive."
Foxman was especially upset with a February
1996 letter Fieger sent to the Jewish Community
Council in Bloomfield Hills after the Council of
Orthodox Rabbis of Greater Detroit criticized Jack
Kevorkian.
In the letter, Fieger wrote, "When an organization
such as the orthodox rabbis take (sic) an extremist
view which reflects a fundamental intolerance of indi-
vidual freedoms, they are far closer to Nazis than they
think."
Fieger once said that assisted suicide advocate
Kevorkian - a Fieger legal client --- needed a gun
permit to protect himself from "nuts like Maida,"
referring to Detroit Cardinal Adam Maida, who has
condemned Kevorkian's actions.
And he has said that many people in Jesus' time
may have regarded him as a "gootball," another com-
ment that has raised hackles.
Fieger campaign spokesperson June West said last
week that Fieger's comments have simply been taken
out of context.
But in a telephone conversation Thursday with
Foxman, Fieger acknowledged that his comments to
the rabbis had been inappropriate, even if he made
them after he said the rabbis called him a murderer.
"For rabbis to call me a murderer is intolerable to
me," Fieger told Foxman. But "I shouldn't have said
that. And I apologize for saying that ... I should have
turned the other cheek."
Fieger spent much of the last week speaking with
religious leaders and explaining -- and apologizing
for - his remarks. On Friday, he was endorsed by the
Ecumenical Ministers Alliance, a political action com-
mittee that represents over 100 Detroit pastors and
churches.
On Thursday, Fieger won the endorsement of
Michigan Clergy United, which has 150 member con-
gregations around the state.
ichigan after
ivil war
aged to get said in a statement. Abraham worked
iriting, and with the families of the Zubers and
veral stops Vinton to help the three make it home.
msterdam, Becca Zuber said she and her hus-
band planned to resume their mis-
s all other sionary work after the violence start-
ited from ed in early August. But as things got
Zubers and worse, they stayed in the house where
eft behind, they had been living for their three-
n (R-Mich) month stay.
Missionaries back in West M
being trapped n Congo by c
Since 1948
Wee vt w.. mgn to be
HELP WANTED
All Positions Available
Apply at Locations
Mr LL3JJ['NJP
University of Wisconsin-Platteville
"If you have built castl.,s in the air,
your work nerd not be Gust.
That is where they should be.
Now put he foundations under them."
-Hcery David'Fhorcau '
--
Learn Your Way Around The World
" Study abroad in England, Mexico, Japan, or Spain
* Courses in liberal arts and international business
* Fluency in a foreign language not required
* Home-stays or dorms with meals
" Field trips
* Financial aid applies (except for summer session)
ROMULUS, Mich. (AP) -- On the
seventh try, a suburban Grand Rapids
couple finally were able to leave
Congo after their missionary stay had
0been extended by a civil war and unco-
operative officials.
"We're tired and smelly,* but
we're happy to be back," Chad
Zuber said Monday evening, shortly
after arriving with his wife Becca at
1Detroit Metropolitan Airport. The
Zubers, both 21, live in Jenison near
Grand Rapids. A third West
Michigan native, Steve Vinton, flew
to Houston to be united with his
family there, Chad Zuber said.
The Zubers were teaching English at
a Bible institute in Kindu, Congo,
when civil war broke out five weeks
ago. They tried to leave the country one
week short of their intended stay but
failed when officials told them they
couldn't leave.
The governor of Kindu told the cou-
ple six times that they could leave,
Zuber said. Each time, the couple
walked 45 minutes to the airport, only
to be turned away by gun-carrying
officials.
"It was a complete letdown. Each
time, I told myself, 'I'm not going to
get excited,"' Becca Zuber said.
Finally, the Zubers mana
the governor's promise in w
a six-day trip home with se
in Africa and one in A
Netherlands, followed.
The U.S. Embassy and
Americans were evacua
Congo on Aug. 15, but the.
Vinton were accidentally l
U.S. Sen. Spencer Abraham
MARTHA COOK BUILDING
HAS A FEW VACANCIES FOR
IMMEDIATE OCCUPXNCY
eThe most beautiful Women's Residence Hall
in the Best Location on Campus
I
747-9400 1220 S. University
Above McDonalds
STUDENT
cPIW aT IN
m "ir