-LOCAL/STATE.

The Michigan Daily -Thursday, November 15, 2001- 3A

RESEARCH
Study: Mothers
more content than
adult daughters
Middle-aged mothers feel they
experience less success in their work
lives but were much happier when
they were the age of their adult daugh-
ters, according to a recent study done
at the Institute for Social Research.
. Almost two-thirds of the 611 moth-
ers agreed with the results of the
study, which focused on a group of
women with daughters who graduated
in 1957 from Wisconsin high schools.
Researchers conducted mail and
phone interviews when the women
were 18, 36 and 53 years of age. At
the age of 59, the women had in-depth
personal interviews.
The women's daughters ranged in
age from 22 to 40. They showed an
increase in years of education and
higher achievement in status occupa-
tions, compared to the mothers.
Researchers also found that the
mothers' feelings on their daughters
reflected objective characteristics,
rather than the quality of their rela-
tionships or the mother's own level of
self-esteem
Poll: Teens have
low self-image
Fifty-eight percent of participants
in a recent survey feel they are over-
weight, according to a study done at
SmartGirl.org, a University website
for teens. The survey polled 737
female readers and eight male readers
on eating disorders. A third of them
felt they were the right weight, but
only 14 percent were happy with their
body shape and size.
Most of the readers were between
the ages of 11 and 19, and 63 percent
said they diet and 24 percent reported
having purchased diet pills. When
asked why, 43 percent of respondents
said for themselves, 16 percent
because of portrayals in media
images, 5 percent because of the influ-
ence of friends and 4 percent because
of influence from family influence.
Respondents blamed peer and fami-
ly pressures, pressure from the media,
poor self-image and psychological
problems for the development of eat-
ing disorders.
MSU, 'U' to work
together on Great
Lakes study grant
A collaborative program called the
Michigan Sea Grant will examine the
effects of aquatic nuisance species on
the Great Lakes food web and neigh-
boring lakes. The program joins the
University with Michigan State Uni-
versity as part of the Great Lakes Sea
Network, to prioritize funding and to
coordinate research.
The main focus of the research is to
understand the disruptions caused by
non-native species, such as zebra
mussels on the food chains of the
Great Lakes now and in the future.
* Standardized tests
less accurate than
practical ones
Practical tests measure a person's
capabilities just as well as standard-
ized intelligence tests such as the
Graduate Management Admissions

Test (GMAT), according to University
Business School researchers.
The research posed a variety of
short-answer and situational judgment
problems to two incoming classes of
MBA students at the school in 1999
and 2000. The answers to the prob-
lems were graded on quality, rather
than right or wrong.
Researchers found that students
who scored higher on the more practi-
cal-type of exam had higher grade
point averages, higher projects scores.
They also found that these students
held more leadership positions and
participated in more academic clubs.
GMAT scores were unrelated to
scores on the practical exams and pro-
jects. Women scored higher than men
on both practical formats, though men
and blacks scored significantly higher
on the GMAT. Like the men in the
study, blacks scored lower on the
practical portion, according to a press
release.
- Compiled by Daily Staff Reporter
Lisa Hoffman.

Author discusses fate of civil liberties

By Margaret Engoren
Daily Staff Reporter
Suggesting Americans would prefer a trans-
parent society to a totally private one, David
Brin argued last night the importance of a free
flow of information. "It is crucial we have a
society in which most of the people know
most of what is going on most of the time."
Brin, a scientist, public speaker and author,
presented a lecture entitled "A World Filled
with Cameras: Security at the Cost of Free-
dom?" to more than 120 people at the Law
School's Hutchins Hall last night. ,,
"Given a choice between privacy and
accountability people will choose privacy for
themselves and accountability for everyone
else," Brin said.
Arguing the importance of public criticism

and information about the American govern-
ment, Brin stressed the necessity for a two-
way flow of information.
"Professionals and government officials
are not going to find their own mistakes. It is
the public's duty to preserve and protect our
society," Brin said. "At the same time, the
government requires information to strength-
en national security. Information must flow
both ways - the public and the government
must be monitoring each other."
Many students and University community
members attended the lecture, hoping to dis-
cuss privacy and information concerns.
"I agree with Brin when he suggests priva-
cy is a practical impossibility," said Andrew
Mailhot, a first year Law student. "A totally
transparent world in which everyone knows
about everyone else may be a better situation

than a world in which information is private.
It's at least something to consider."
David Griffus, an LSA freshman, said he
thinks individuals may have to relinquish
some privacy in order to improve national
security.
"I think Dr. Brin had a good point. For
society to progress, the tele-screen has to go
both ways," Griffus said.
"The public must be able to monitor the
government just as easily as the government
watches them."
John Hawkins, a Rackham student, said he
attended the lecture to hear Brin discuss pri-
vacy issues.
"I found his insights interesting. I think a
free flow of information is more critical
today than strict privacy rights," said
Hawkins.

"However, I believe people should main-
tain complete privacy concerning certain
aspects of their lives, such as their thoughts
and their psychiatric exam results."
Paul Bennett, a Media Union staff-member,
said he attended the lecture to discuss his
concern for endangered privacy rights as a
result of overzealous security concerns.
"Dr. Brin left me with a lot to think about. I
think it is important to remember that we are
freer today than we have been in the past even
though our government knows more about us
now than they ever have before;' said Bennett.
Brin's lecture was the second'in a year-
long series sponsored by the Park Founda-
tion, the Law School, the Gerald R. Ford
School of Public Policy, the School of Infor-
mation, the College of Engineering and the
College of Literature, Science and the Arts.

State rep. questions
MEAP Merit Award

By Louis Meizlish
Daily Staff Reporter

DAVID ROCHKIND/Daily
Law School Profs. Paula Ettelbrick and Rick Hills debate same sex marriages
yesterday in Hutchins Hall along with Notre Dame University Prof. Gerald Bradley.
Law School debate
takes up gfay marragfe

A state legislator has called for
the elimination of the state's MEAP
Merit Awardsscholarships, the one-
time $2,500 scholarships many stu-
dents use to help finance their
freshman year.
The scholarship is awarded to
students who meet or exceed state
standards on the Michigan Educa-
tional Assessment Program mathe-
matics, reading, science and writing
tests and attend a public college or
university in the state.
Rep. Paul DeWeese (R-
Williamston), a member of the
House Education Committee and the
appropriations subcommittee that
oversees higher education funding,
said the scholarships stretch Michi-
gan's budget too thin.
"We are taking $125 million out
of the settlement at a time when we
are cutting critical health care pro-
grams and giving it to wealthy
families whose children are going
to go to college anyway," DeWeese
said.
According to the Michigan
Department of Treasury, which
oversees the issuance of the Merit
awards, the state gave scholarships
to an estimated 48,282 high school
seniors in'2001, totaling out $32.8

million.
DeWeese said he was not
opposed to the scholarships in prin-
ciple, only that public health could
make better use of the money. The
awards are funded by money from
the state's tobacco settlement.
The program, created in 1999 by
Republican Gov. John Engler, used
in its first two years, respectively,
30 percent and 50 percent of the
yearly tobacco settlement payouts.
Since then, 75 percent on the yearly
payouts have been put into the
trust.
But Matt Resch, a spokesman for
Engler, said the governor still sup-
ports the program he first put for-
ward in 1999.
"The governor feels very strongly
that students who take their work
seriously should be rewarded and
that was his reasoning in creating
the program," he said.
John Boshoven, a guidance coun-
selor at Ann Arbor Community

High School, said he was not sure
he agreed with DeWeese.
"A lot of families in the middle
incomes, not necessarily in two-
parent families find themselves just
as squeezed as low-income fami-
lies," he said.
Boshoven said lower-income stu-
dents usually have their financial
needs met by federal grants and
loans and said there is a place for
merit-based scholarships.
Boshoven said he would prefer
that the state used the funds to
improve the education of students
who are at risk of not receiving the
awards, thus increasing their
chances of getting a better educa-
tion and passing the MEAP test.
DeWeese, an emergency room
physician, said he plans to convene
a health summit in Lansing to dis-
cuss the matter and to mobilize
support around redirecting the
tobacco settlement dollars to health
care.

"We are taking $125 million out of the
settlement at a time when we are
cutting critical health care programs."
- State Rep. Paul DeWeese
R-Williamston

By Lisa Hoffman
Daily Staff Reporter

Opponents of same-sex marriages
argue that children growing up in an'
unorthodox home will be stigmatized.
But University Law School Prof.
Paula Ettelbrick said she thinks her'
children will have more normal
gripes as they mature.
"My kids will complain more about
cleaning their room then about their par-
ents being lesbians, I hope. It more
depends on pressures from society,"
Ettelbrick said during a same-sex mar-
riage debate yesterday at the Law School.
Laws in all 50 states bar Ettelbrick and
her partner from marrying. Some states,
including Michigan, do not recognize
same sex marriages even if the marriage
occurred.
The debate featured Ettelbrick, who
is also a member of the National Gay
and Lesbian Task Force, and Universi-
ty of Notre Dame Prof. Gerard
Bradley as a representative of the con-
servative view point. The event was
co-sponsored by Outlaws and the Fed-
eralist Society, two student groups in
the Law School.
"I hope it gets students to think
about the issues that are not covered
by the Law School curriculum," said
Outlaws co-chair Beth Locker, a
second-year Law student. "These
issues are not discussed frequently
and have large social implications
today."
Both representatives said they felt
that times and ideas have changed,
forcing the American public and gov-
ernment to look closely at the civil and
social definition of marriage.
"Two areas critically important to
marriage are children and sex,' Bradley
said. "Marriage offers a principle of
sexual morality (through monogamy). I
would say marriage is a union of two
people in one flesh, which is generally
characterized by children."
However, sex is no longer limited to
marriage, and children from unmar-
ried couples have gone from being
called illegitimate to having "single
parents," Bradley said.
"Now, we have a serious discus-
sion," Bradley said. "Though people

in favor (of same-sex marriages)
seem to treat it as something already
settled by logic, the logic of equali-
ty."
Ettelbrick said she feels the equality
principle allows people to examine the
social and economic benefits of mar-
riage.
"Most people, .when polled,
acknowledged that certain benefits
should be given to people in long term
relationships. This is what drives the
litigation ," Ettelbrick said. "There is a
trend to break through the barriers
concerning property distribution and
the definition of family."
"If you were in the hospital, would
you want your mother that you
haven't seen in five years, a distant
cousin or your life partner at your
bedside making the decisions," Ettel-
brick added.
Both sides of the debate agreed that
cultural beliefs and ideas must change
before the law changes.
"If the exclusion is no longer
morally defensible, than exclusion
(of same-sex marriages) has to go,"
Bradley said, though he feels many
Americans still hold a certain picture
of marriage.
"The appropriations of children are
part of the definition of marriage and
gender complementation. People don't
understand, much less accept, the
ideals of-concessions of same-sex cou-
ples to adopt," Bradley said.
Ettelbrick also felt the raising of
children needed to be a top concern
during debates on the issue.
"Studies show that devotion makes
good parenting, not sexual orienta-
tion. People must be flexible and
look at the functional relationship,"
Ettelbrick said. "It is an injustice to
look at the statutory definition of
marriage."
Though change will not occur
overnight, both sides felt the definition
of marriage will change over time.
"This forces people to look at the
logic of their opposition," Bradley
said.
"It is a real turning point for civil
law and marriage. Straight folks made
this world, and it is perfectly right for
gay s to find their place."


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