4 - The Michigan Daily - Tuesday, November 17, 1998 tjie Midipg a 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 'if you don't have any bucks, you can't play Rambo.' - Joe Rivers, member of an Ann Arbor delegation to Fort Benning, that 1he way to close the Army School of the Americas is to Ga., asserting cut its finding 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 Fewer masters Female enrollment drops in MBA programs THOMAs KULJURGIS TENTATIVELY SPEAKING usiness schools across the nation are experiencing a drop in the number of women enrolling in programs leading to a master's degree. Several factors likely contribute to this drop in enrollment, and the University recently launched a study to pinpoint these deterrents. Once this study is completed next summer, the University and other higher education institutions across the country should take action to break this alarming trend. Since 1994, the percentage of women enrolled in two-year MBA programs has generally held at 29 percent, with some schools slipping below that level. While the number of people taking the Graduate Management Admissions Test - a requirement for acceptance to most MBA programs - has risen, the number of female test-takers has remained steady at 41 percent. But most important, the female enrollment in programs after acceptance has dropped. The University's full-time female enrollment is about 30 percent, with the evening program trail- ing at about 23 percent. This spring, the University, in collabo- ration with Catalyst, a New York nonprof- it research group targeting women's issues, initiated a study on why more women are not enrolling in MBA pro- grams and what should be done to change that. Hoping to obtain explanations from the women themselves, the study will sur- vey female alumnae of leading MBA pro- grams in the country. The results are expected to be complete by the summer of 1999. So far, the study has pinpointed two primary reasons for lack of enrollment. Many business schools have increased the required amount of work experience expected of MBA applicants, which has raised the average age of MBA students from 24 to 29 in the last decade. This age increase deters many women planning to have children from making such a com- mitment. Thus women are forced to make an unfair choice between thei families and their prospective careers. The busi- ness world is highly competitive and requires much dedication, but women should not be forced to exclude them- selves because they plan to have children. Business has been professionally dominated by men for decades, making it an intimidating career choice for women. Encouraging and recruiting women to matriculate into MBA programs is impor- tant and could help prevent the "good old boys" network from keeping women out of the business world. Prospective female candidates have to see that business degrees are an option for them. To increase appeal, many business schools are increasing their female faculty mem- bers as well as engaging alumnae contact for prospective female candidates. In an effort to do both, the University established Michigan Business Women, which organizes mentoring, recruiting and forums addressing the many chal- lenges women face in the field of busi- ness. The University was recently ranked as the second-best business school for women by Working Woman Magazine. Clearly, the University is taking the nec- essary steps to increase the number of female applicants and especially enroll- ment into business programs, and it must continue to seek innovative ways to pro- mote accessibility. . s. 4 t4 01(/G CAVIO~ C$W OtA ll ow. R euU45 l I - - - m -z_ -.- LETTERS TO THE EDITOR tow Turning up the heat U.S. should ratify global warming treaty L ast Thursday, the United States became the 60th country to sign the treaty known as the Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. This treaty aims to curb global warming by reducing the emission of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. The signing of this treaty by the United States comes 11 months after the treaty was first signed at the Kyoto Conference in December 1997. This is a move in the right direction, especially since it has taken so long for the country to get this far. The United States is the largest producer of man-made carbon dioxide in the world: By signing this treaty, the nation will be forced to reduce greenhouse gas emissions into the atmos- pnere. Although President Bill Clinton has signed the treaty, it still needs to be rati- fied by the U.S. Senate, which is reluctant to do so at the moment. The Clinton administration will not ask the Senate to consider ratifying the treaty until devel- oping countries agree to sign and partici- pate under the stringent conditions laid down in its framework. But developing countries should not always be held to such high standards - instead, these countries should be subjected to less demanding conditions since most of them face problems of providing basic ameni- ties necessary for life for their population and cannot, at this time, comply to the high standards set by the treaty. In addi- tion, if such demanding conditions were applied to these countries, it could pre- vent them from further industrial devel- opment. As a result, their populations would continue to struggle in poverty, dard of living. There is also strong opposition to this agreement within the United States, par- ticularly from business leaders claiming that this treaty would significantly hurt the U.S. economy. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce claimed that the full imple- mentation of this treaty would cost mil- lions of U.S. jobs and redirect industries to developing countries not currently sub- ject to the treaty such as Mexico, India and China. But if the country continues to emit these greenhouse gases and remain the world's largest producer of man-made carbon dioxide - which has a huge impact on global warming - the whole world could suffer in the long run. In the worst case scenario, future concern would be on the effects of global warming on people rather than employment. The treaty should be sent to the Senate for ratification as quickly as possible since there has already been an I1-month delay in the president's approval. The United States should ratify the treaty rather than worry about the actions of developing countries since there are sig- nificant differences in their respective levels of development. This treaty can set an important prece- dent for the future. Global warming is a serious problem that the United States and other countries must address before its adverse effects become pronounced. In order to reduce the levels of greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere on a global scale, the nation needs to take a leading role in the global effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and set an example for other countries to follow. This can be done simply by ratifying the 'U should regulate groups TO THE DAILY: On Nov. 8 the University collaborated with Athletes in Action to spon- sor a "3-Point shootout" at the CCRB. The promotional flyers detailed the rules, time and a 200-word description of the event. None of the promotions explained that the contest was actually a thinly veiled attempt for the speakers of Athletes in Action to expound upon the wonders of Jesus Christ in a half-hour presentation dur- ing the event. Basketball contestants were told during this presen- tation that "Jesus died for (their) sins" and were hand- ed pamphlets about Christ and Athletes in Action. Some students who had come with the understanding that they were present to shoot three pointers and play basketball felt they were lied to and their time was wasted. If a religious group wish- es to use University property to proselytize or discuss their religion, that is perfect- ly acceptable, and if they wish to do so in a pairing with an athletic contest, so be it. But they should be forthright in their intentions and promotion with attention to the concerns and time of students. Athletes in Action was neither. If the hundreds of groups that hold events at the University will not regulate their own practices (which they do not) then the University must. The University should take responsibility for the events it supports, setting clear guidelines for what an event can be and how it should be promoted. That way every- one stands to gain. ARI MELBER LSA FIRST-YEAR STUDENT Open letter was a waste of time TO THE DAILY: In Mark West's "An open letter to letter writers" (I1/13/98), he wasted time, ink, finger energy and dex- terity. He made absurd claims lambasting such wor- thy adversaries as East Coasters and the Greek sys- tem. These are two select and wonderful participants in our campus life and should be given their due respect. Stop berating the feminists and political extremists, they are the most important people in the world and they're always to my subject, Mark West, the idiot, what should we get Mom for Christmas? PAUL WEST LSA SENIOR Vouchers edit Was one-sied To THE DAILY: I understand space limi- tations, but the analysis that the Daily gave to the issue of school vouchers ("Passing the Buck." 11/12/98) was blatantly one- sided and wrong. A few minutes on a Website devot- ed to public policy (such as wwwpolicv com) would show that several of the claims made about public schools are ludicrous. I have several points of departure with the Daily's edi- tonal staff. My personal favorite is the fact that University students at the Daily are tut-tutting the elitism of private schools. Like private schools, U of M rejects stu- dents. Like private schools under vouchers, U of M receives substantial amounts of federal money. Putting church- state issues aside for a moment, is the Daily really going to criticize private schools for being selective? In any event, several claims in the Daily's editorial are incorrect. First, the edito- rial quotes the Witte study, which states that the annual evaluations of the Milwaukee voucher program compare students in private schools with the entire public school population, finding no gains. Fine. But, when three researchers from Harvard University compared students who want the vouchers and get them with those who were denied the voucher, there are substantial gains in scholastic achievement (both math and verbal) for the voucher recipients. For what- ever reason, public schools are clearly failing to help a group of students that private schools are able to help. Second, the claim that $5,000 "can never cover all of the expenses of sending a child to'a private school" is wrong. The Cato Institute has put together a study that "average tuition for all pri- vate schools, elementary and secondary, is $3,116 or less than half of the cost per pupil in the average public school, $6,857." For ele- mentary schools alone, the U.S. Department of Education places the tuition costs at under $2,500. What basis did the Daily have for his or her claim? Finally, factual matters aside, the editorial ends with an amusing criticism of the U.S. Supreme Court, claiming that the faults of the court in deciding not to Criticism should not be offensive To THE DAILY: I am not familiar with the letters Ken Galica or Rachael Farber wrote that provoked Galica's response in the Dally ("Letter made things worse," 11/12/98). But I am thinking they might havesaddressed the issue of "student fragmen- tation" at the University in regard to the general unfriendly behavior of the New York population. I am an LSA senior from Manhattan and am aware of this hostile atmosphere within the student body. What angers me most is the fact that many (not all) of these students like to preach that they are from New York, "know how it is," and like to criticize anything out of their little cliques when in fact these people are not New Yorkers in the way they try to exploit and promote. These people mostly come from very similar neighborhoods, share very similar experiences growing up with the new Michigan neighbors they like to criti- cize and attack. These are the same people that come to New York City occasion- ally on the weekends and then retreatbacketo their suburban homes in upstate New York, Long Island, etc. New York City natives (we that live, grew up and went to school in the city) have similar complaints toward this mostly arrogant, spoiled and snobby crowd that Galica refers to. It is also ironic that native New Yorkers from the city say the same things aboutthe New Yorkers living out of the city that these New York state people say about peo- ple from Michigan! This is in general and is in no way an attempt to homogenize the groups. I am not adding another side to this schism because the whole thing is rather silly and is common everywhere in the world; country to country, state to state, city to city and neighborhood to neighborhood. Along the same lines, I mention that people from New York City are also quite famous for their notorious behavior toward anything out of their city, and we also discrimi- nate and criticize ourselves according to neighborhoods. We also have an arro- gant, spoiled and snobby crowd in our population. I am just adding another per- spective from a native NYC resident's eyes (Daily letters are not only used by zealots but also by people that like We are not our Universitys children n May 1998, Cokie Roberts released Ia book called "We Are Our Mothers' Daughters." Suffice to say, its title is more truthful for many on this campus (of both genders) than we would like to admit. As I work my way through m third year at this University, I am slow- ly coming to the realization that I am indeed my parents' child. It's not a bad thing, but I often find myself practic- ing some of the most obnoxious and endearing manner- isms and habits that both of my parents have. JACK What I am not, SCHILLAC however, is this University's child. I 1 AM !T TO don't call Lee -I: E FH Bollinger "father" nor Nancy Cantor "mother." When I paid my matriculation fee, I did not sign away my rights as an autonomous adult. Nearly everyone on this campus can remember what they did during thei@ first weekend at the University. For many of us, these memories involve going out to a frat party with our new roommate, drinking cheap beer out of a keg shared with 200 other freshmen and waking up the next morning with a head-splitting, sense-numbing hang- over. But many politicians, city officials and University administrators would like to see this perhaps somewhat-idiot- ic freshman trend stopped. They wan@ all us young'ns to stop drinking and keep our alcoholic chastity until after our 21st birthdays because after all. we're far too young to be able to handle any sort of intoxicant. So in order to help us stay on the wagon, the Ann Arbor Police Department conducts crackdowns, the University forms "task forces" and the national media shakes and quivers with~ every alcohol-related incident. Th University, et al. to parents: "It's OK to send your kids to college. We promise we won't let them drink or do anything bad and we'll keep an eye on them" The philosophy behind this preten- tious crap is in loco parentis, which translates to "in lieu of parents." Toward the end of his tenure, former University President James Duderstadt said that if students were asked whether or not the University practiced this policy, they' say, "Hell no." Either the Dude was incredibly con- fused, woefully underestimated students or was lying through his teeth. But the AAPD doesn't see it this way. It thinks that it is part of our extended family and want to protect us. In the past two weekends, they have passed out in excess of 100 MIPs and cited four fraternities and three house parties fo serving alcohol to minors. 4 The police establishment might call this upholding the law. I call it sancti- monious bullshit. In light of Courtney Cantor's death a month ago and MSU junior Bradley McCue's death two weeks ago, the AAPD reallyneeds a publicity stunt. They need proof that they can handle all us crazy college kids. Similarly, the University has formed a task force - mind you, before the Cantor tragedy -- to examine the us@ and abuse of alcohol here at the University. It specifically targets under- age drinking among freshmen in resi- dence halls - as if living in the dorms didn't suck enough already. Under the guise of Vice President for Student Affairs Maureen Hartford, the task force is attempting to study the prevalence of "binge" drinking and find out what can be done to "change the culture" aroun collegiate drinking. Of course, Hartford has always been a big fan of in loco parentis. She's the one that brought us the wonderful Code of Student Conduct in the first place. More than three years ago, the University Board of'Regents trusted her and imple- mented the Code to replace the Statement of Student Rights and Responsibilities. We thank you for it, Maureen. It has really helped maintain our "communi ty." Pardon me if I kvetch, but the docu ment is just full of disgustingly warm, fuzzy words meant to make students feel SOOO special. Newsflash: It's a smoke screen meant to invoke a sense of self-admiration while the Code quietly rips away your rights. At the MSA forum last week, I heard a fellow student whining to the effect that we students needed some- thing to protect our "community vale ues," and the Code is doing just fine. That's fine, but what about due process, the right to counsel, the rules of evidence and prohibitions against double jeopardy? These too are some of our "community values," yet they are a mere fraction of the logical and