4 - The Michigan Daily - Friday, November 13, 1998
1I~e S i~tidiun OrIg
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
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
A tenuous connection
'U' should not follow national tenure trend
'She doesn't feel like the Code did anything for her.'
- LSA first-Year student Lanni Lantto, about a student
in a recent Code of Student Conduct case in which she felt the
sanctions against the defiendant were not comparable to other cases
A LOOK BACK MAT T WIMSATT
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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
University students often complain they
are treated like guppies in a sea of
37,000 fish. Despite the relatively good job
that the University administration does to run
its bureaucracy efficiently and cut down on
red tape to make students feel at home, the
University as a whole is succumbing to a
national trend in higher education - a reduc-
tion in the number of tenured faculty mem-
bers caused by slowly substituting them with
non-tenure track professors and part-time fac-
ulty members.
The governing body of faculty members,
the Senate Advisory Committee on University
Affairs, met earlier this week to hear Provost
Nancy Cantor address the changing composi-
tion of the University's faculty.
"Part of what bothers me is a significant
increase in non-tenured faculty," Social Work
Prof. Sherrie Kossoudji said. "This needs to
be explained."
Kossoudji brings up a very pertinent point
in questioning this trend of downsizing the
number of experienced tenured professors at
universities and especially in Ann Arbor. By
increasing the number of non-tenured faculty
on staff, the University is hurting both faculty
members and students.
Professors or part-time lecturers who
aspire to gain tenure but are restricted from
that goal are the biggest losers in this trend
that has increased the number of non-tenured
professors at the University from 28.5 percent
to 39.2 percent between 1987 and 1996. Many
of the current non-tenured professors are
highly competent researchers and teachers
who deserve the chance to climb the ladder
and attain the status of being a full professor.
By cutting back the numbers of professors
who can reach this status, all fields in higher
education suffer. Talented undergraduates and
w graduate students may decide not to become
professors, thus threatening the quality of the
University's faculty. More crucial is the fact
that non-tenured professors do not receive the
same type of benefits as tenured professors.
They often have to teach too many classes,
which subsequently hurts the students for
whom they have little time to advise and
instruct outside of class.
Part of being a top-flight university is
supporting the ability to balance research
and teaching. Unfortunately, the University
has not placed enough emphasis on quality
teaching in recent years. President Bollinger
obviously sees the virtue of having adminis-
trators teach - he teaches one undergradu-
ate and one law class - and he should be
lauded for doing so. Other administrators
such as RC Director Tom Weisskopf also
take time out of their busy schedules to
advise and teach undergraduates. But by
replacing some of the best professors with
less experienced faculty in the classroom,
students lose out. Despite the claim by the
University that it must compete with the Ivy
League for the best professors and that it
takes big bucks to do so, the overall quality
of education falls when the University puts
all of its eggs in a few baskets.
Reversing this trend at the University will
require the willingness of tenured faculty
members to defend the interests of those who
will not be offered tenure. Through contract
negotiations, professors can demand conces-
sions from the University to improve condi-
tions for newly entering faculty members. A
new class is forming in academia, made up of
part-time and non-tenure track faculty mem-
bers who fall victim to salary cuts and whose
rights are constantly ignored. With the help of
those who already have secure positions at the
University, this group may be able to become
full and equal members of the faculty.
.i
Getting better
Admissions decisions prevent overcrowding
E ver since the University expanded its
enrollment in the 1950s, housing-
related issues have been a constant sore
4 spot between students and the
University's administrators. This problem
is not unique to the University, though, as
many other large universities face the
same concerns with respect to living
arrangements. Housing problems also pit
incoming students against upperclassmen
who might want to live in the residence
halls, especially when space is limited,
and it causes additional strain on over-
crowded classes. Finding a solution or
compromise between the various interests
lies on the shoulders of University offi-
cials, especially those in admissions and
Housing - who until recently did not do
a very good job of it.
Flashbacks of previous years remind
us of something of a disaster for many
students. Many on campus can recall the
residence hall nightmare stories they have
heard, witnessed or experienced. Whether
it was living in the residence hall lounge
for the first few weeks of school or three
"students crammed into an overflow triple,
they are almost always experiences one
would not wish to go through again.
University officials have been aware of
this problem for years. The solution boils
down to much better coordination
between admissions, who accept the stu-
dents, and Housing, who decides where
everyone will live and whether or not
there is enough room. Several times in
recent years, admissions has flat out taken
more incoming students than Housing
4 could handle. One of the results has been
major inconveniences for incoming stu-
dents - something that first-year stu-
dents should not have to deal with in
addition to adjusting to the college envi-
ronment. Another major problem has to
do with the diminishing amount of resi-
dence hall space for upperclassmen, forc-
ing them out into the already competitive
and expensive Ann Arbor housing market.
This year, University admissions and
Housing officials got their act together.
Last Friday, the University released its
statistics for this year's incoming class.
One of the most striking figures was the
almost 300-person drop in overall class
size from 5,534 students last year to
5,253 students this year. Housing offi-
cials stated that the drop was a targeted
goal to combat the problem of overcrowd-
ing. University Housing and admissions
officials should be commended for set-
ting an important goal and sticking to it.
There will always be problems with
housing at a big school as big as the
University, but administrators should use
this year's effort as a model for years to
come. A concerted effort is necessary by
all the involved parties to make over-
crowding a smaller problem at the
University. In addition, President
Bollinger and other administrators with a
vision and the power to change things
must think of the long-term fate of the
University. Everyday concerns like class
size, housing and quality of teaching with
an expanding student body must be con-
sidered. There is a relationship between
these University-related issues, and
changing one will affect the other two.
Serious thought must be given to the
problem of housing with respect to all
students and its ramifications on the
University as a whole.
An open
letter to
letter writers
TO THE DAILY:
This letter is in response
to about 90 percent of the let-
ters to the Daily over the past
six years.
The Ku Klux Klan has
five members in Ann Arbor.
Ignore them.
Feminists and political
extremists write really long
and boring letters.
Student government
cannot change tuition rates
and therefore, is worthless. It
needs to be abolished.
Not all, but a lot of
East Coast students are
annoying.
Fraternity and sorority
members are not Greek (my
friend Dean Bakopoulos is
Greek). They are all annoying.
All majors are difficult.
Most engineers would fail a
400-level creative writing
course and most LSA majors
would fail thermodynamics.
Don't worry, we'll beat
Ohio State again.
MARK WEST
COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING
Many hate
crimes go
unnoticed
TO THE DAILY:
My fears were confirmed.
When Matthew Shepard was
brutally beaten and killed, I
was scared. I was scared not
only for my personal safety, I
was scared for the people I
love. And now that Leonard
"Lynn" Vine has been shot,
I'm terrified.
While a senior in high
school and for the past two
summers, I have worked at The
Attic Youth Center in
Philadelphia. The Attic is the
largest organization in the
greater Philadelphia area serv-
ing lesbian, gay, bisexual,
transgender and questioning
youth. LGBTQ youth of all
backgrounds come through
The Attic's doors. The people
there who have loved me and
nurtured me and to whom I
have given my love are black,
latino, asian and pacific
islander, white, mixed, drag
queens, self-identified butch
dykes, lesbians, gay men,
bisexuals, transgender people
and more. Some come from
the same affluent white suburb
in which I went to high school,
and some live in Philadelphia's
poorest and most violent
neighborhoods or have sur-
vived its streets since they
were thrown out of there
homes at the age of 14, 17 or
12. Some are visible college
students like myself and some
are LGBTQ sex workers
whose existence we are aware
of but never acknowledge.
When Matthew Shepard
was beaten for being gay. I was
of mouth. So I ask anyone
reading this letter, why is it
that we can give all the support
needed when a blond-haired,
blue-eyed, Midwestern, non-
activist, comfortably gendered
college student is murdered for
being gay, and then hardly
acknowledge the hateful shoot-
ing of Vine?
Right now I am scared for
my fiends, scared to go home
and find out who has been
beaten and possibly killed. I
am also scared for our campus
and our country if we believe
that one hate-based crime is
more noteworthy than another.
BENJAMIN FIFE
SCHOOL OF ART
Daily fuels
'the fires of
antagonism'
TO THE DAILY:
In regard to the Nov. 4 arti-
cle reporting on the vandalism
of the Hillel Diag board, we
are interested in finding out
exactly why our organizations'
names were mentioned in ana-
lyzing who the suspected per-
petrators were ("Hillel Diag
board vandalized"). Although
Ross Kirschner did not believe
either the American Arab Anti-
Discrimination Committee or
the Palestine Catastrophe
Committee were involved in
the incident, we feel that the
mere mention of our name
implies that there is a belief
that we would engage our-
selves in such actions.
It would be interesting to
find out if Kirschner made that
statement on his own or was
prompted by the Daily to
"round up the usual suspects."
There is no reason why, as
established organizations, we
would mandate any of this
kind of behavior. It is an insult
for anyone to imply that we
would ever do so.
The Daily should not fuel
the fires of antagonism, which
is largely the result of stereo-
types that portray Arabs as per-
petrators. The Daily's approach
should have focused on the
criminality of such activities
without unsupported specula-
tion. The Daily needs to depart
from the traditional media ten-
dency of playing an ignorant
Dick Tracy.
WILL YOUMANS
DEANA RABIA
AMERICAN ARAB ANTI-
DISCRIMINATION
COMMITTEE EXECUTIVE
BOARD
Lockyer
contradicted
herself
TO THE DAILY:
Sarah Lockyer's column,
"The fervor ofthe new con-
vert," (11/10/98) is clearly a
In the first line of her col-
umn, Lockyer laments the lack
of "true public discourse"-on
our campus. Yet several para-
graphs later, we find her com-
plaining about students who
"won't stop talking" about
issues of race, ethnicity, gender
and lung cancer. Now, isn't
there an obvious contradiction
here? If we lacked a public dis-
course, then Lockyer couldn't
complain about activist stu-
dents voicing their opinions--
there would be no such stu-
dents. And if we took
Lockyer's advice and stopped
"complaining" about such
obviously unimportant issues
as the oppression of women
and the cultural genocide of
Christopher Columbus, would-
n't that be the death of public
discourse?
The "zealots," who I take
to be those students who
voiced their dissatisfaction
with Lockyer's first column,
are accused of perpetuating an
anti-discourse atmosphere by
writing letters to The Michigan
Daily. But this seems precisely
backwards! The lettersfurther
the exchange of opinions and
ideas. The letters box, after all,
is a forum for public discourse
on campus.
What Lockyer must really
be complaining about, of
course, is the fact that many
students found her column
offensive, ridiculous and unin-
formed. When we students
voiced our opposing opinions,
we are called zealots who seek
to eliminate opposing view-
points. But given Ms.
Lockyer's most recent column,
it's clear who has the real
problem with opposing view-
points.'
GARY BROUHARD
RACKHAM
Lockyer raised
an 'interesting
point'
TO THE DAILY:
Sarah Lockyer raised an
interesting point in her column
("The fervor of the new con-
vert," 11/10/98). The leftist
leanings of the University do
not coincide with my views,
but I respect other people's
right to believe what they
choose and act accordingly.
The heart of Lockyer's argu-
ment lies in the vocal fringe of
the University's left not tolerat-
ing the voicing of any other
views. If I disagree with some-
one who is in favor of the per-
petuation of the University's
affirmative action admission
policies, I address their issues
in a discussion. In the same
discussion, I am met with
name calling and accusations.
An exhibition of the issue:
I disagree with hate speech. I
think that its existence polar-
izes the campus, hurts people
and perpetuates both racial
inequities and stereotypes
against fair-minded white peo-
ple. Did anyone see the adver-
tisements for the anti-Klan
MSA can't work
unless students
vote in next
weeks elecfion
j n one of my very first encounters
1 with the Michigan Student Assembly,
then-Vice President Sam Goodstein said
to me: "I don't think the position -
MSA has a great impact."
Goodstein's com-
ments were made in
explanation of why
an uninformed
assembly shouldn't
rush to push
through a resolution
to support the con-
tract negotiators for
the Graduate
Employees
Organization. The LAUR
statement, however, MAYK
is one that I haveSl*
heard repeated in SAY tSs
various forms over
the past three years.
Despite the rainbow-colored pleas for
votes covering Angell Hall every semes-
ter, it's easy to dismiss the student gov-
ernment's presence on campus.
As MSA elections approach, stude
are again asking exactly what MSAi
and why they should spend two tochte
minutes of their time voting for candi-
dates they have never met.
Quite simply, students should vote in
MSA elections because if they doii't,
the assembly won't be much of anything
at all. Without the support and confi-
dence of a significant proportion of the
student body, and a notion that students
actually want an elected assembly, the
institution of MSA is reduced to
Tuesday night club with bylaws and
large budget.
In theory, representatives from each
school and college at the University
bring the viewpoints of his or her cqn-
stituents to the assembly. The elected
body can then bring issues and concers
to the attention of the Universitt's
Board of Regents, the City of Ann
Arbor and the state legislature.
But, as a regent, how much stock wot*
you put in the suggestions of a group of
18- to 24-year-olds who represent roughly
8 to 1I percent of the student body? More,
hopefully, than you'd think.
Granted, the opinions of that percent-
age of the student body that votes in
presidential and midterm MSA elec-
tions probably are proportionately sim-
ilar to those of the rest of campus. ut
the numbers, and therefore the clout, are
lacking.
The voter turnout in U.S. elections
especially midterm ones - is stagger-
ingly low as well. But the purpose ad
power of these elected officials, regar
less of turnout, is assumed in the United
States. At the University, students are
still struggling to organize their voices
in an effective manner and grab the
attention of lawmakers and administra-
tors who will take their ideas and
protestations seriously.
Without a large percentage of the su
dent body taking ownership of the
assembly, the representatives have too
much leeway in deciding what to take to
the regents. MSA representatives are
elected officials, and they should be
treated as such. Vote them in, write them
letters, call them with suggestions-
and if you don't like what you see, vote
them out.
To political science majors and others
versed in such theory, this sounds jo
like the democratic idealism that is
squashed by realist pluralism every two
years. But there's a reason why this type
of democracy works (or can work) 'in
campus student government:"MSA
doesn't govern, it just represents. It
doesn't set laws, it doesn't decide for-
mulas for admissions or Housing or
tenure-track faculty. It just represents
student interests (and funds them) a
advocates for policies and rules to be
student life.
The assembly has spent too much of
its time in the past few years passing -
or rather discussing, tabling and dis-
cussing again - resolutions to support
or "condemn" University actions or
events. Especially with the backing of
only a small percentage of the student
body, these resolutions don't carry
much weight (as the vice president told
me at the MSA meeting several years
ago) and don't affect student life at
University.
The assembly is, however, more than
just a vehicle to pass out money to cam-
pus groups. This is one if its most signif-
icant functions, but its efforts to, among
other things. provide speakers and open
forums to debate issues such as affirma-
tive action and the Code also are benefi-
cial to the University community.
Student votes should go to candid
who are proactive and dedicated not j
to the assembly, but to the University
community. They should have concrete
ideas and the determination to fight
against potentially daunting opposition
from administrators, faculty and legisla-
tors to implement them.
On a campus as idealistic as this orle,
i