The Michigan Daily - Tuesday, April 20, 1999 - 17 Affirmatix ~-Yael Kohen Daily Staff Reporter Despite the popular idea that affirmative action is only beneficial to minorities, both the University's School of Engineering and "the School of Nursing use it to recruit appli- cants of underrepresented genders in their elds. 'Women are currently underrepresented in Engineering and men are underrepresented in Nursing. The Michigan Daily Student Survey, con- ducted in conjunction with the Department of Communications Studies and the Institute for Social Research, found that less than half of the respondents believe that stu- dents from an underrepresented gender ben- efit diversity on campus. About 47 percent of non-white students - *pondents who identify themselves as black, action seeks to gain gender equality Women clear minority in Engineering, men underrepresented in Nursing Latino/a or Asian students - and 32 percent of white students agreed that the presence of different genders impact diversity. Women are a minority in Engineering, comprising only 28 percent of the under- graduate department, according to Susan Burke, director of Women in Engineering. But although Engineering women are underrepresented, some students said they don't feel like a minority in classes. "I don't feel underrepresented," said Engineering senior Michelle Osinski, who specializes in chemical engineering. But Osinski does have friends who special- ize in electrical and computer engineering who do feel underrepresented because there are so many more men than women, she said. According to the survey's initial results, 42 percent of females said the presence of an underrepresented gender benefits diver- sity, while only 28 percent of male respon- dents agreed with the statement. Engineering first-year student James Mickelson said that while he believes women are underrepresented in his field, he doesn't think affirmative action is the answer to increasing female representation. If women want to apply to engineering pro- grams, Mickelson said, they will apply regardless of whether the University uses an affirmative action policy or not. Osinski said that when she was accepted to the Engineering program, the affirmative action policy made her angry. "I don't want anyone thinking that I got in because I'm a girl," she said. But she added that since she has been on campus, she has not had any experiences that have led her to feel insecure about being a woman in engineering. "No one has ever said anything negative,"she said. Similar discrepancies in gender are pr'e- sent in the School of Nursing. According to the Nursing Registrar's Office, 520 students were accepted to the undergraduate program for fall term and only 40 of these students were men. The difference in numbers .of male and female students is evident to Nursing stu- dents. Nursing senior Jill Arvai said that in her class of 125 students, only five are men. "I think that we are all pretty aware that an increase in the (male) population would definitely benefit" diversity and add a dif- ferent perspective to the school, Arvai said. But she added that it will most likely be a long time before male and female represen- tation will be equal. SACUA Continued from Page 1 said. "If yousmake something that's big money, some faculty members are afraid that the University will take a bigger percentage." SACUA Chair William Ensminger said he recognized the University's right to change the faculty member's royalty distribution retroactively, because the inventor signs an agree- ment and not a contract. But Ensminger expressed concern that not all faculty members are aware the agreement can be changed. "The faculty needs to know that this is not a contract, that it's an obligation for the faculty to disclose their invention to the University," Ensminger said. "What you get might be different than what you think." Ensminger's concern with the issue lead to his request that General Counsel Marvin Krislov and associ- ate Vice President for Research Marvin Parnes be present at yester- day's Senate Assembly meeting. At the meeting, the two men, who have had extensive experience with the intellectual property policy debate, engaged members of the fac- ulty in a casual discussion of the topic. Parnes admitted the University has the power to retroactively alter the percentage the faculty member receives, but only in select situa- tions. "There are circumstances where we might choose to do that," Parnes said. "I'm not going to give a flat- out 'no' to that question because that wouldn't be completely true. "In practice, we have always left the inventor's share as is; when the agreement is made, we honor it," Parnes added. "But over time, the University sometimes proposes to modify the agreement." Krislov added that he doesn't see the policy changing in the near future, since it is based on a University Board of Regents bylaw that has not been altered in years. "I don't see this as a bilateral con- tract that should be debated between the faculty and the University," Krislov said. "The regents govern us and they can make any decision they choose." LEAVING ANN ARBOR? YOu CAN STILL CHECK OUT THE DAILY ONLINE AT UKIVE'ITY 9F MICH :.+ .: .._ _ i f '.: f. Y.. rc:'p. r[ . . 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