4- The Michigan Daily - Friday, January 19, 2001 U1Iw £iditgrUn &ailg A Shakespearean awakening tofalsification 420 Maynard Street Ann Arbor, MI 48109 daily.letters@umich.edu Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan ?s MIKE SPAHN Editor in Chief EMILY ACHENBAUM 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. O ne night recently I dreamt that "Ham- let" had been adapted into a porno movie. But that isn't what was shocking. Rather, it was my in-dream reaction, which I can remember as being somewhat appeased by the porn industry's effort to send one of their cycloptic pro- jects on an extraordi- narily Catholic trajectory. ~ What I'm trying to say is that I awoket feeling duped, maybe, by myself more than anything or anyone else. In my dream, movies aimed at Patrick recording sex for theK sake of some John's vicarious arousal xlkg gained a credibility m. s that, in reality, they do "_ not merit. Something like asking a pig in a dress to the prom. I'm not going to whittle away the remain- der of my column arguing that pornography isn't Shakespeare. Of course it isn't. Of course Shakespeare can be a mantra for the intellectual monk, and porn is a war-cry in the derelict mindscape of lonely men. Instead, what my dream provoked in me was a reminder of how deceiving looks can be. It's an old adage with which we're all familiar, but maybe we trivialize it, and that's to our own disadvantage. In my own opinion, looks are almost always deceiving. Now that I think about it, "looks" shouldn't be confined to mean only visuals. Appearances in general, by whatever modes we understand them, are bound to be the glints that catch our proverbial eye. They are the colors and sounds that we remember most easily; like Sally Struthers' starving Africans, or the sizzle of your brain on drugs. I don't mean to insinuate some phobic atmosphere that masks every truth in a lie. Even the word "skeptic" has connotations that feel too strong for my state of mind and purpose. I guess that looks can only deceive a person willing to be fooled. There's noth- ing wrong with a masquerade. But for the drunk man who storms in looking for his wife, looks only conceal. I was thinking of "Eyes Wide Shut" - were you? So it turns out that, at least grammatical- ly, the old adage was right to begin with. What I can say is that appearances are almost always concealing ... something(s). My example at the start of this column occurred in my subconscious, which was apt to believe the intellectual pretenses of a purely carnal circus. I sold tickets to a peepshow standing under a sign that script- ed "theater," and then I grabbed a seat myself. But I think that everyone must do that to some extent. The person who uses big words in bad plades is doing it. So are the beautiful people. So is everyone that doesn't at least try to stake some plot of indestructible, ide- alistic truth for themselves. And so are they. When ' get to thinking about posturing, about the schism between what has sub- stance and what insists on the surface, I think about television. I get to thinking about those Lilliputian intimacies I have had with women, those rare moments in the dark when all the fog seemed to lift and the clear air could maintain any voltage, transport any words in their true pitch. I've blasphemed those moments with thoughts of romance scenes from famous movies. Yeah, appearances flashback worse than any Vietnam acid nightmare. One night recently a girl said we'd go one night and she'd show me how to throw pots. Clay, potter's wheel, that stuff. It could be amazing, I bet. I was thinking of "Ghost" - were you? - Patrick Kiley can be reached via e-mail atpkiley@umich.edu. Standardized tests display bias The National Summit of the New Civil Rights Movement held a symposium on Sunday at the Michigan League, focusing on the severe limita- tions inherent in standardized testing. They found that standardized testing presents an entirely flawed assessment of peoples' intelligence. Their allega- tion of bias in standardized tests is com- pletely correct. The University should take steps toward recognizing this bias and move toward an admissions stan- dard that considers more valid indica- tions of a person's academic merit. First and foremost, standardized tests pose racial, class, gender and cul- tural barriers to equal opportunity. There is clear and conclusive evidence that standardized tests discriminate against minorities and the poor. An example is the findings of Jay Rosner, the executive director of the Princeton Review, a company that helps prepare students for such tests. In the 1988-89 SAT, 575 of the 580 questions displayed "white preference." Recently, the College Board released SAT statistics regarding college bound seniors in the year 2000. Whites did considerably better than blacks, Native Americans, Latinos and other minority groups. Furthermore, males received higher average scores than females. Another study by David White, director of Testing for the Public, concluded that students of different ethnicities with similar grade point averages had a con- siderable gap between test scores. Based on all the evidence, it is difficult to dispute that these standardized tests strongly favor white males. Considering this information, the University needs to look past standard- ized tests as a measure of intelligence. The numerous schools and departments at the University must downplay the importance of standardized tests when evaluating students in the admission into their programs. For example, the GRE should play less of a role in admissions into the University's gradu- ate programs. Instead, more qualitative measures of merit should be used to consider applicants. The University needs to follow the lead of more than 280 other schools around the country that have eliminated or reduced the role of the SAT and ACT for admissions into their undergraduate programs. No person should be discriminated against based on his or her socioeco- nomic status, gender, race or ethnicity. Standardized tests are a tool for dis- crimination, and should therefore be eliminated from the University's deci- sion processes, or downplayed. The University has a duty to ensure that its action, or lack of action, does not hinder the efforts of reaching social justice. t ' # r L C r 'Oh, Hideki who ran for president .. what ever happened to him?' -Music school sophomore Arianna Wadkins commenting on Michigan Student Assembly President Hideki Tsutsumi's loss of visibility around campus. Daily overlooked economic factors The home Clinton's final weeks remained active People love him. People hate him. And tomorrow, this eight-year-long love/hate relationship will come to an end when the 42nd president of the United States, Bill Clinton, leaves office. Pundits and journalists have been trying to articulate Clinton's lega- cy since the resolution of the 2000 elec- tion, yet no one can seem to agree on a conclusion from these turbulent years. Clinton will be remembered for an unprecedented economic boom and leaving office with a 65 percent approval rating, yet he was impeached by Congress just two years ago. His legacy is inexpressible because it is so contradictory. However, in the last few weeks of his presidency, Clinton took an active and aggressive role in necessary areas. Most lame-duck presidents leave office quiet- ly, but Clinton is going out with a bang. Although many last minute actions by Clinton are under heavy scrutiny and face possible retraction by Republicans and President-elect Bush, Clinton's pro- active stance on labor, environmental and racial issues is well received by many concerned liberals. Clinton designated historical and environmentally precious lands as national monuments to prevent the next administration from destroying wildlife and open spaces. First, he made a national monu- ment out of the Upper Missouri River Breaks area in central Montana, land once traveled by Lewis and Clark on their famous 1803 expedition. He also preserved the historically-significant World War II Minidoka internment camp. Clinton has also selected several other national monuments including most of the Sonoran desert in Arizona, as well as parts of California, New Mexico and coral reef areas in the U.S. Virgin Islands. He strongly discouraged the next administration from drilling for oil in the Alaskan wilderness. With four days left in office, Clinton sought to leave a strong precedent for politicians to fight child labor and sweatshop conditions in countries that manufacture materials imported to the United States. He recently committed almost $50 million from both the Labor and State departments with a goal to end child labor in five to ten years. Although this goal is idealistic, Clin- ton's actions show a strong support for workers and children all over the world. Finally, Clinton confirmed the Democratic Party's dedication to com- bating discrimination by issuing a report to Congress which outlined issues important to black and Latino cit- izens and recommended to Congress that they seek to rectify problems in the justice system like racial profiling and discrimination with mandatory sentenc- ing. Although Clinton's overall presi- dency is getting mixed reviews from both Democrats and Republicans, it is clear that at the end of his term, he did not decrease his commitment to sever- al important issues. TO THE DAILY: In the Daily's Thursday, 1/18/01, edito- rial, "Married to Nike: 'U' community should be skeptical of deal," it is stated that there are "fundamental and serious differ- ences" between the recently recommended University Committee Code of Conduct and the Collegiate Licensing Company Code insofar as the CLC Code states that workers need to be paid "... at least the minimum wage required by local law or the prevailing industry wage, whichever is higher." The editorial further states: "In many Third World nations, workers making 'the prevailing wage' live in squalor and barely make enough money to feed their families. This state of affairs is woefully inadequate and should not be tolerated by the administration or the University com- munity." What the editorial fails to recognize is that it is a well-established fact that multi- national corporations like Nike and others commonly pay their workers more on aver- age in comparison to the prevailing market wage for similar workers employed else- where in the economy. In cases where sub- contracting is involved, workers are generally paid no less than the prevailing market wage. The issue then is that if Nike and other companies are mandated by the University Code to pay even higher wages to their workers than they do currently, the net result would likely be shifts in employ- ment that will worsen the collective eco- nomic welfare of the very workers in poor countries who are supposedto be helped. Further, it has to be understood that low wages in poor countries reflect the relative abundance of workers in these countries and their low levels of productivity. Histo- ry has shown that, as poor countries devel- op, their wage levels tend to increase, often substantially - as the experiences, espe- cially in Asia, have demonstrated in recent decades. It is more important therefore to encourage the continued growth of these poor countries and their low-wage indus- tries rather than to hit them with sanctions with dubious justification. ROBERT STERN PROFESSOR, SCHOOL OF PUBLIC POLICY Inflammatory tactics hurt affirmative action debate TO THE DAILY: Kudos to the Daily for its informative "All Sides Heard" Editorial page (1/16/01). This was one of the few campus fora in which differing views on the Law School's affirmative action lawsuit have been tolerated. By contrast, an unprincipled minority of those who support the Law School's current admissions policies have vigorouslytsilenced and vilified all who would challenge their posi- tion. Witness the tearing up of protest signs and snowball barrage (not to mention whispered threats) suffered by lone MLK Day protester Adam Dancy ("BSU, DAAP clash during MLK rally," 1/16/01). Consider also the public rhetoric of three student intervenors, who characterized those opposing the law school policy as "resegrega- tionists" engaging in "racist and right-wing attacks, both in the court of public opinion and 50-year quest for legal diversity" and "Con- demned by Justice Powell," 1/16/01). No one - not Adam Dancy, Cohen, or me - is argu- ing that diversity in the classroom isn't worth fighting for. That is a given. The question is simply how that essential goal should be accomplished within our constitutional system. Like Lehman, I recognize "that a diverse class, racially and otherwise, makes a class stronger than the sum of its parts." I see that every day in my classmates of various races, ethnicities and backgrounds. But how we should achieve that diversity if far from a settled question. I, for one, would like to have the chance to keep talking about it. ANTHONY ORR LAW SCHOOL Dan Rather, Daily have not changed TO THE DAILY: I attended college at the University from 1968-1972, obviously during some heated protests about Vietnam, minority enrollment, etc., some of which served as worthwhile change agents in a society that seemed to need them. The tone of the Daily's editorial Wednesday ("Don't be silenced," 1/17/01) differs from what it was during that previous slice of history and I am troubled by the distinction. Protesters of the Vietnam-era were dedicated to changing government policy, and they succeeded in doing that without creating a divisive wedge throughout American society. They had a clear objective and they reached it. If the Daily has a sliver of hope that the protesters at George W. Bush's inauguration have any single minded unifying purpose in being there, than I suggest that you are more naive than your years. After eight years of deceit, outright lies and socialist doctrines emanating from the office of our Commander in Chief (not to mention his wife), this country would be better served by expressions of support. I almost wished for a time machine to see if the Daily's opinions would change after 30 years of real world expe- rience, but then I realized that if Dan Rather didn't change, why should you? I am sure we will both grow hoarse exercising our First Amendment rights tomorrow. HOWARD RICHARDS ALUMNUS Bush's presidency no cause for protest TO THE DAILY: I thoroughly enjoyed the Daily's fiction- al recreation of the events that led to George W. Bush winning the presidential election. If that was the way it happened, then every American should be marching to Washing- ton D.C. to protest this so-called atrocity to the office of the President. Unfortunately, that's not how it hap- pened. First off, if you recall, Al Gore had just over 500,000 votes more than Bush nationally, which made up about 49 percent of the popular vote. And, as everyone remembers from high school civics class, 49 percent is not a majority but a plurality. The "voting irregularities" in Florida were the result of ignorance, not racial oppression, as Caucasian Americans were also crying dis- enfranchisement. To say that Bush is an insult to the presi- dency because he didn't win the popular vote is also not entirely accurate. After all, the founder of what has become today's Democratic Party and the man who is most responsible for "our democracy" won the White House in a back-handed matter. That was Thomas Jefferson, and I would hardly say his presidency was a disgrace to our nation's history. As far as Bush not being able to con- vince 93 percent of African Americans to vote him, maybe that does signal that some- thing is wrong with the Republican plat- form. However, African Americans make up about 13 percent of the population, and last time I checked, our government works on majority rule, not minority rule. As far as the cabinet goes, perhaps his choices were a bit disconcerting, but most cabinet offices don't do that much. Congress affects the minimum wage changes and how national reserves can be used, so Ashcroft and Norton are bound by current laws and cannot change them. If people want to protest this election further, then I hope they do it based on per- sonal convection rather than the Daily's fan- ciful interpretation of history and government. JAY SCHAFER ENGINEERING SOPHOMORE Bring Pitino to the University TO THE DAILY: Wake up University of Michigan Athletic Director! Why in the name of everything that is beautiful and sacred have you not made an offer to Rick Pitino to be our head coach and turn the basketball program around? He and he alone may be the one man in the country that can get the job done. Instant recruits. Instant publicity. Instant ticket sales. Final Fours. National champi- onships. As the most diehard University of Kentucky basketball fan on campus, I am telling you I have seen what he can do to a program in trou- ble. Offer him whatever he wants. UNLV is a second tier, Grade B program in the world of college basketball. Our program is classier, our university is classier, and Rick Piti- no is a man of class. Make the offer. Make it tomorrow. Call a press conference. Get it done. S. BRANDON COAN LSA SOPHOMORE JASON POLAN UM ... /Arq L .. 240 0 DANE BARNES DISTURBED SLEEP