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NEWS
The Michigan Daily - Thursday, February 19, 2004 - 3A
Moped lost in Ann
* Arbor, discovered
in Jackson County
On Tuesday night, a caller reported
to the Department of Public Safety
that his moped was stolen. The vehi-
cle had been parked in the Catherine
Street parking lot since December,
and the caller discovered it missing
on Tuesday. The moped was later
recovered in Jackson County.
Sibling rivalry
turns to assault at
University hospital
A fight broke out between two sis-
ters at the University Hospital's
emergency room Tuesday night.
While the two were visiting their
mother at the hospital, one sister
assaulted the other. DPS later arrest-
ed the woman for assault.
Referee's pants
taken; no suspects
According to the DPS crime log,
on Tuesday, an intramural referee
reported the theft of a pair of pants
along with two wallets and a pair of
keys at Yost Ice Arena. There are cur-
rently no suspects and DPS estimates
the value of the stolen property is
less than $100.
Person receives
telephone call
harassment
DPS reports show that on Monday
night, a subject reported receiving tele-
phone calls of a harassing nature at
Mosher-Jordan Residence Hall. DPS
has no further information because the
investigation is pending.
Cleaning solution
ends up in eyes;
victims taken to ER
Callers reported to DPS on Sun-
day afternoon that a kitchen staff
member at the Law Quad splashed
cleaning solution in several people's
eyes. The victims were later trans-
ported to the University Hospital's
emergency room.
Police called
after security unit
smells marijuana
A housing security unit at Mosher
Jordan Residence Hall requested a
police officer after smelling marijuana
smoke coming from a room in the resi-
dence hall early Tuesday morning. DPS
has no further information.
Person reports
paint ball incident,
area later cleaned
A DPS unit met with an individ-
ual who was reporting a paint ball
gun incident at Couzens Residence
Hall late Sunday night. The area
was later cleaned and no police
reports were filed.
CD player stolen
from women's
lockerroom
DPS reports show that a CD player
was stolen from the women's locker-
room in the North Campus Recreation
Building on Sunday morning. DPS
estimates the value of the CD player is
$75. There are currently no suspects.
Board falls on
vehicle near
Hatcher Library
A caller reported to DPS on Tues-
day morning that a wooden board
lying next to a dumpster caused dam-
age to a University vehicle. The dam-
age occurred after the board fell on
the vehicle in the dock area next to
Harlan Hatcher Graduate Library.
DPS has no estimate of the value of
the damaged property.
Man with revoked
license arrested for
running stop sign
DPS arrested a man early yesterday
morning after he failed to stop at a stop
sign on South University Avenue. The
man was arrested for operating a vehi-
cle while intoxicated and for driving
with a suspended license.
f Trespasser
Lorenzo Ramsey, left, and Erik Glenn, members of the Office of LGBT Affairs Speakers Bureau, speak during a panel discussion
yesterday in East Hall regarding what it means to be both black and gay.
Panel1sts discuss poblems
"ifaced bygay minoitie
GRADING
Continued from Page 1A
the fact that there's this pathology of
grades out there that people are moti-
vated by that more than they ought to
be," he said. "But given that that's the
reality andthat the rest of LSA tends to
kind of encourage that mentality, it's a
reality we have to live with here."
Robinson expressed the potential
danger of letter grades, citing a course
he taught on Mexican labor in North
America. "As soon as you get into
grades you start going, well, 'Can we
have all A's?' Well, no you're not sup-
posed to have all A's, that's called
grade inflation, but in fact everyone
was really motivated to do projects."
The course encouraged students to
engage in the issues and included a trip
to Mexico. "I felt the
course was a smash- "h r'
ing success on both ere's
fronts so the grades groundsm
were kind of an irrel-
evance in a way, and sUppOrt i
even potentially neg- going ba
ative," Robinson
said. pass/fail
But RC senior evaluatio
Carol Gray said she
feels letter grades -{
conflict with the RC Student Se
mission of the RC.
"I think the RC is
about this continu-
ous process of learning and dialogue,
and (by giving grades) it's standard-
izing something that in essence is not
meant to be standardized," she said.
She also expressed concern about
the shift in classroom dynamics. "Even
if you get a grade with an evaluation, it
changes the way you act in class, it
changes everything."
RC junior Aaron Malinoff attrib-
utes the controversy over the change
to miscommunication between RC
students and administrators. "People
who graduated from the RC ...
would tell me that it was sort of a
snap decision that was made. Stu-
dents really didn't have a chance to
get upset about or voice their con-
cerns," he said.
Still, some students enjoy having
both grades and evaluations. RC junior
Jeremy Cook feels that both systems
are biased, but together can better
depict a student. "I think they give dif-
ferent pictures. An evaluation can tell
about you every day of class, but the
D
w+
14
C
ii
Cl
letter gives a more general picture, and
I think you need both to give a really
accurate picture of a student in a
class;' he said.
Distributing letter grades may pro-
vide benefits to students, said Mark
Kirschenmann, an RC professor and a
School of Music professor. "Personally
I like having and prefer having a grad-
ed system because in my experiences I
think that, for better or for worse,
grades oftentimes serve as a quasi-
motivating factor," he said. He said he
noticed that seniors under the old grad-
ing policy participated in a course just
enough to pass. "My general inclina-
tion is to think that the pass-fail system
had some downfalls in that some of the
students I've had under that policy
simply did enough to get by," he said.
RC sophomore Dana Fife, a stu-
dent of the ungrad-
ed intensive
10 greaL language program
ell of said she is satisfied
with the arrange-
ere for ment.
er for"It helps to know
that when I'm
learning a lan-
IS., guage, my main
goal isn't to get an
:harlie Murphy A, it's to know the
vices Assistant language," she said.
Since the program
may command a
large portion of a stu-
dent's course load, and is focused on
constant assessment, letter grades
may defeat the purpose of an inten-
sive program, she said. "It's too
stressful to worry about your grade
point average on top of that."
RC freshman Laura Pisarello said
she feels the RC still provides benefits
that the larger School of Literature,
Science and the Arts lacks, despite the
newly enforced letter grades. "Just the
fact (that) the class sizes are kept at 15,
you're always gonna be able to connect
with your professor on a closer level
than in LSA," she said.
Despite the initial debate, few stu-
dents have complained about the
grades, Murphy said. "There's no
great groundswell of support here for
going back to pass/fail evaluation,"
he said.
RC students can count on a contin-
ued effort to maintain the written
evaluation system. "Nobody advocat-
ed giving up written evaluations,"
said Weisskopf.
By Kristen Przybylski
For the Daily
Being both a person of color and a member of the gay com-
munity means going through life with two strikes against you.
This was the message sent by two panelists at a discus-
sion held in East Hall last night. The panel discussion, co-
sponsored by the Office of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and
Transgender affairs and the Office of Multi Ethnic Student
Affairs, was the first of a four-part series focusing on the
experiences of racial minorities who are also members of
the LGBT community.
"The LGBT community is a microcosm of the communi-
ty at large, so there is oppression within," said Kelly Garret,
assistant director of the Office of LGBT Affairs. "We felt
like there was a need to bring awareness to some of the
issues, so we teamed up to put this together."
The discussion began with each of the two panelists
giving a brief synopsis of their experiences as a homo-
sexual man of color. They both expressed the difficulty
that they have faced in trying to find a community with
which to identify.
"My experience all through my life has been as the 'other,' "
said panelist and RC senior Erik Glenn. Glenn later explained
that this meant "not having space within communities to be
different than what is commonly understood as the norm."
Glenn is a volunteer for the LGBT Affairs Speaker's Bureau.
"It's almost like being a minority within a minority," said
Speaker's Bureau volunteer and Detroit resident Lorenzo
Ramsey. "To be a black male, there is a machismo attached to
that, and because you're doing what's perceived as a feminine
act you're being ostracized."
The audience, consisting of a handful of people, was
responsive and inquisitive toward the panelists. Questions
dealing with family, religion, school and community were
openly asked and answered.
Glenn said he has faced struggles in his attempts to relate
with a community at the University. "Last year I had decided
that not only was I trying to find people like me, but I was
trying to find a community," Glenn said. As he searched for
such kinship, he said he felt discouraged. "I felt like I wasn't
part of the community because it was their community and I
was the gay one,"he said.
When asked how allies of the LGBT community could be
more welcoming and supportive of people dealing with sim-
ilar feelings of isolation, Glenn responded by addressing the
University's recent funding cuts to the Office of LGBT
Affairs. "If I were to find support, the offices that I would
need, MESA and LGBTA are shrinking. These offices give
great support but they are limited in the support that they
get," Glenn said.
Ramsey said, "It's important for the University to stress
that diversity is important. Every student should feel wel-
come and important. ... It's a contradiction to say,
'You're important and we want you here,' and then in the
same breath to depreciate the funding that provides for
the groups that are the sole support for these minorities."
Three similar panel discussions co-sponsored by LGBT
Affairs and MESA will be held next month, featuring Asian,
Latino and multiracial LGBT panels. The Asian LGBT panel
is scheduled for March 16. The dates of the others have yet to
be announced.
Corrections:
In the Friday Focus last week, History Prof. Matthew Lassiter's comments
should have said that student activism today is more prevalent than it was before
the escalation of the Vietnam war in the mid-1960s.
A campus note on page 3 of Tuesday's Daily should have said Imam Warith
Deen Mohammed is the former leader of the American Muslim Society.
Please report any errors in the Daily to corrections@michigandaily.com
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