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Edited and managed by students at
the University of Michigan since 1890.
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Ann Arbor, MI 48109
tothedaily@umich.edu
ANDREW GROSSMAN
EDITOR IN CHIEF
GARY GRACA
EDITORIAL PAGE EDITOR
GABE NELSON
MANAGING EDITOR
Unsigned editorials reflect the official position of the Daily's editorial board. All other signed articles
and illustrations representsolely the views of their authors.
The Daily's public editor, Paul H. Johnson, acts as the readers' representative and takes a critical look at
coverage and content in every section of the paper. Readers are encouraged to contact the public editor
with questions and comments. He can be reached at publiceditor@umich.edu.
Factoring in the faculty
University needs a diverse faculty, not just student body
When discussing diversity at the University, the percent-
age of underrepresented minorities admitted each
year is considered the key indicator of whether this
campus is an accepting and welcoming one. However, the Univer-
sity is made up of more than just students. As a new report from
the Committee for a Multicultural University details, recruiting,
maintaining and retaining faculty members from underrepresent-
ed minority groups is an area where progress has been sporadic
and underwhelming. The University must recognize the impor-
tance of these findings and improve its record.
The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
It's clear the people of Zimbabwe
have voted for change."
- Gordon Johndroe, a White House spokesman, calling for Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe to step
down after losing the recent presidential election, as reported yesterday by The New York Times.
CHRIS KOSLOWSKI I . UT T PATjE E-MAIL KOSLOWSKI AT CSKOSLOW@UMICH.EDU
id you bear that Gore is So the man actua ly cares Wo et ethnol
launchinga $300 million about the environment and is .Combine Gore's bat airwith
Global Warming ad campaign? willing to put some money your, and there's the
What adisgustingIwaste where his mouth . Is there solution to our foidga
something wrongwith that? oil dependence problem.
Giving Greeks press
GDI: The label carries little the leaders tell me to do, so my broth- as devastating. Then the Greek sys-
importance outside of its ers or my house don't lambaste me. tem only looks a lot more suspect,
entry on UrbanDictionary. See where the problems come up? especially when its members aren't
com and its use by Surely on the surface, anti-media allowed to speak for themselves about
fraternity boys as a Greek policies make sense. Even as internal issues.
somewhat aggres- a member of the press, I can appre- And this is what leads to the bad
sive term to belittle drate the IFC's motivations. Having press.
us non-Gceek hea- designated, rehearsed spokespeople, Like the hostility between the Penn
thens. instead of Joe Fratboy, speak for StateIFCandtheCollegian,therehave
However, the the Greek system is a good way to been similar sentiments expressed by
label represents preserve its image - the same way other Greek councils towards their
the culture of dis- - that many other organizations have respective college newspapers -most
trust and cynicism spokespeople. Why give the media familiarly, The Michigan Daily. "The
between the Greek THERESA anything more than it already knows Daily hates Greeks," I have heard -it
and the non-Greek KENNEL LY or sees, especially when itseems eager hundreds of times. But until Greek
communities. And to negatively spin any Greek news? councils address the culture of dis-
it seems that in Yet, looking at the deeper issues respect and distrust between Greeks
some fraternity and sorority councils wrapped in these anti-press policies and GDIs, the University's Greek sys-
around the country, this distrust has - which exist formally within indi- tem shouldn't anticipate good press
provoked councils to instruct their vidual sororities and fraternities at - there are just too many concerns
members to withhold Greek-related the University of Michigan and infor- that a lack of transparency causes.
information from us "God Damn mally within the University's Greek
Independents." Specifically, the worst councils - a whole mess of concerns
GDIs of them all: the press, arise. Most importantly, this lack of
Most recently, this was highlighted transparency can lead to an atmo- The bad press
at Penn State University's Interfrater- sphere in which members are silently
nity Council. In a seemingly out-of- compliant and others are even more that comes
the-blue reform earlier this semester, skeptical. This is bad for Greek and
the tFC at Penn State changed its pub- non-Greek students alike, with distrust
lic relations bylaw to require Council Anti-press policies breed a culture
oversight when any person in a frater- of silence. This intimidates people
oity speaks with the media. While the into acquiescence. And in the case of
bylaw change was understandable, the Greek system, allows the govern- From my previous experience writ-
hoping to funnel coverage of Penn ing councils to control whether or tog on Gyreek issues, I can predict t;he
State's Greek system through specific not knowledge is handed over to the reaction: Some Greek couricil will dfis-
people, then-IFC President Abe Git- untrustworthy GDI press -- unless agree with what I write, saying it is
terman took itsa step too far. After the of course, tattletalers want to get g very tprgsparent and l1astnanyafe-
change, Gitterman sent out e-mails phone call from the IFC boss. guards to account for potential Greek
emphasizing the seriousness of the A culture of silence goes beyond problems. The only thingcthatcworries
changes, telling all Greek students to anti-press policies, it seems that me is that the only responses people
"NOT under any circumstances" talk Greek councils have been cultivat- will be willing to put their names on
to the press, as the Penn State ito- log a whole system of keeping issues wilibe those draftedbythe governing
dent newspaper The Daily Collegian inside the Greek bubble. Sure, inter- boards of Greek councils,
reported. Anyone caught speaking fraternity councils have hazing hot- The best advice I can offer to the
to the press would "be getting a call" lines and judiciary committees that anonymous, silenced Greek masses
from Gitterman. hand out due punishments, and these is that speaking out when there is a
I, for one, am already intimidated, give Greek members a voice and make problem is a Iot better in the long run
After receiving an e-mail from my Greeks more accountable. But when than keeping quiet, Really, what's
IFC president, there would be no way issues remain harbored within the the worst that can happen? You will
that I would answer questions from Greek system and are keptcsecret from be kicked out of your fraternity? Just
the press about allegations of haz- non-Greeks, there is still a transpar- don't let the door hit you on your way
log or the pressure I feel to consume ency problem, Maybe Greeks don't out.
unhealthy amounts of alcohol at my owe non-Greeks anything. However,
fraternity on the weekend. I would this lack of transparency leads to cur- Theresa Kennelly is a former
certainly remain silent about my fra- ruption, or at least the perception of associate editorial page editor. She can
ternity's issues and comply with what corruption - and that can be equally he reached at thenelly@umich.eds.
I E , <THE iO SEND LETTERS TO: TOTHEDAILY@UMICH.EDU
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Released last month by the Committee for
a Multicultural University, the report titled
"Trends in Minority Faculty Participation"
focuses on the trends in hiring and retain-
ing minority professors since the commit-
tee last issued a similar report in 1994-1995.
The report concluded that the overall num-
ber of minority faculty has increased since
1994, the last time such a survey was done.
However, the percentage of black and His-
panic assistant professors has fallen since
2001 - a discouraging statistic consider-
ing the position is often used as a stepping-
stone for those aiming to become tenured
professors.
More troubling, the report found that
the limited progress that has been made- is
uneven. In eight schools or colleges at the
University, the percentage of full-time, ten-
ure-track black faculty has decreased since
1994. There is no black faculty in the school
of Public Policy, no Hispanic faculty in the
School of Art & Design or the Law School.
and no Asian faculty in the School of Edu-
cation. Lastly, black members of the faculty
have tended to leave their positions at a
higher rate than other groups.
The report might not be a damning
account of a university failing its commit-
ment to diversity, but it should be a call to
action. Minority faculty members are inte-
gral to the University's mission. Besides
offering new perspectives to students who
grew up in closed communities, minority
instructors serve as mentors for new stu-
dents. This latter function can prove par-
ticularly helpful in reinforcing a climate
at the University that is welcoming and
accepting.
Understandably, hiring and promoting
more faculty members from underrepre-
sented minority groups is complicated.
Even when minority assistant and associate
professors enter the tenure track system,
the process to gain full professorship is rid-
dled with complexity, including reviews of
many aspects of a professor's work at mul-
tiple levels. When discrimination is raised
as a concern - as it was recently in the case
of Andrea Smith, who is a women's studies
and American culture instructor who was
denied tenure - it is difficult to pinpoint it
as a problem.
The complexity of hiring and retaining
professors shouldn't be an excuse, though.
In its report, the Committee for a Multicul-
tural University made many tangible rec-
ommendations that the University should
implement. Requiring each department to
produce an annual diversity report and cre-
ating a task force to assess how welcoming
the University is to minority faculty were
among the most promising recommenda-.
tions. Overall, though, the report illustrates
one simple thing: The University needs to
refocus its efforts.
As the University continues to look for
ways to implement diversity in its student
population, it must also look to the people
who are teaching those students.
S
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EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS:
Emad Ansari, Harun Buljina, Anindya Bhadra, Kevin Bunkley, Ben Caleca, Satyajeet Deshmukh,
Milly Dick, Mike Eber, Emmarie Huetteman, Theresa Kennelly, Emily Michels, Arikia Millikan,
Kate Peabody, Robert Soave, lmran Syed, Neil Tambe, Matt Trecha, Kate Truesdell,
Radhika Upadhyaya, Rachel Van Gilder, Rachel Wagner, Patrick Zabawa.
STUDENTS FOR OBJECTIVISM IE I
Morality doesn't need religion
Debunking myths on
tuition and GEO
Abstinence advocacy
threatens freedoms
women in
for thoseC
in macnag
choose to r
does not a
If God does not exist, everything is per-
mitted - this is the belief of Ivan Karam-
azov, a fictional character from Fyodor
Dostoevsky's novel "The Brothers Karam-
azov," and is similarly held by people who
conventionally encounter the issue of moral-
ity. When addressing moral systems, partic-
ularly in introductory philosophy courses,
the alternative presented to students is
often the following: Either God's existence
leads to moral facts and principles of right
and wrong, or morality is whatever a person
or society desires it to be.
But the University of Michigan Students
of Objectivism begs to differ, and claims
such an alternative is a false dichotomy.
There exists an intelligible, objective sys-
tem of ethics independent of some super-
natural or societal will or whim. Though
explaining such an ethical system is a task
that's beyond the scope of this article, it is
possible to sketch out some aspects of this
moral code.
The purpose of morality is to guide human
beings on how to live properly and act with
certain principles in order to achieve certain
goals - thereby advancing their own lives.
Since we only live once, morality would
guide us in living this life to the fullest.
Establishing what "living life to the full-
est" means may be quite difficult, and can
legitimately vary among individuals. While
the "good life" could be that of a surgeon
with a loving family for one person, for
another it could be that of an academic phi-
losopher with a few close friends. The long
and practically unlimited number of objects,
relationships, careers and activities that
people think a flourishing life would involve
necessitate that we apply our minds to dis-
cover what is valuable to us. The ability of
our mind to reason allows us to determine
what things contribute or detract from our
livelihood. From there we can choose to act
in order to gain the things that are beneficial
and avoid those which are harmful. Ratio-
nality - or the use of reason - would then
be a key requirement for a rich life.
Rationality insists that we use our own
minds - our tool to reason - to determine
what is valuable. The rejection of the super-
natural, the mystical and all that is arbitrary
is essential. Hence, a proper morality is sec-
ular. Religions tend to substitute sweeping
dictates for independent judgment, which
are to be followed on faith. But such inde-
pendent judgment is crucial for understand-
ing what we individually want out of life.
Since we need to judge certain facts to live
prosperously, accepting anything on faith
would be antithetical to living a life of ful-
fillment, joy and happiness.
Since morality acts as a guide to live a life
of prosperity, its role then is to guide every
single one of us in fostering our own self-
interests. Hence, such a proper morality
supports egoism. An egoist is simply a per-
son concerned with his or her own interests.
Egoism is an essential aspect of this moral-
ity because it fulfills the self-interests and
goals that constitute the good life, whether
those interests involve dream jobs, romantic
partners or medication for an illness.
The last requirement of the good life and
an objective morality is freedom. Freedom
here means freedom from force, where force
can come in the form of a fist, a gun, fraud or
a number of other variants of coercion. Free-
dom is essential to prosperity because force
can halt our ability to act on our thoughts,
and in the extreme it can destroy our inter-
ests and lives.
Religious faith conflicts with every prin-
ciple of a proper moral code, whether it's the
blind subjugation to arbitrary dictates or the
draconian terror of religious crusades. To
discover how and why this is so, the UMSO
insists that you attend its lecture "Religion
vs. Morality" with lecturer Dr. Andrew Ber-
nstein, which will be presented today at 8
p.m. in Angell Hall Aud. C.
Andrew Sardone is an LSA senior and
Roderick Fitts is an LSA sophomore.
Sardone is president and Fitts is vice-
president of Students for Objectivism.
TO THE DAILY: TO THE DAILY:
While walking through the Diag In response tot?
today, I noticed aflyertitled "Coming about abstinence
Soon: Higher Tuition. Thanks, GEO." University (Abstir
The flyer went on to make mislead- ing from 'U', 04/02
ing statements about the graduate reason we don't ha
student instructors' compensation club on campus. B
at the University and blamed the logically ridiculou
Graduate Employees' Organization injurious to awide
and its "outrageous" demands for ris- on campus.
ing tuition. I would like to dispel the Because of its e
misleading "facts" on the flyer. riage, abstinence
The flyer claims that members of erosexual norm t
GEO currently receive $13,977 per participants and h
semester. Unfortunately, that num- same-sex relations
ber is for a full-time appointment. Furthermore,o
Ninety-four percent of GSIs have a forces the idea tha
half-time appointment or less, mean- ticular cannot con
ing that they make half of what the or their sexuali
flyerclaims.AccordingtotheUniver- implies that only
sity, the median half-time GSI salary partners have the:
is currently $15,199 for eight months,
not per semester. The flyer goes on
to claim that in the new contract,
GSIs will make $17,395 per semester. ARIELA STEIF
Again, this figure is for a full-time
appointment, and is only for the final
year of the new contract.
The anonymous creator ofthe flyer
insinuates that the benefits in the aIys AiA-'%MSI
new GEO contract will cause high- P 'C
er tuition costs. Patrick O'Mahen
already wrote an excellent letter I '
to the editor addressing these con- f0
cerns (Fairly paid GSIs and reason-
able tuition aren't mutually exclusive,
03/03/2008). Suffice to say, GSI sala-
ries account for less than 2 percent
of the University's general fund, and
tuition has increased at a much faster
rate than GSI salaries. GEO is not to
blame for increased tuition.
I encourage students to voice their
concerns about the rising cost of edu- -
cation, but posting misleading flyers
wrongly blaming GEO is neither an
honest nor particularly useful tactic.
Kristin Lewis
Rackham
our lifesty
he story yesterday We are s
advocacy at the born with
nence push miss- act in a se:
12/2008), there's a us are biol
ave an abstinence ing pleasu
esides being bio- Like anyth
is, abstinence is expressed
number of people safe mann
guilt or de
mphasis on mar- dents, it is
promotes a het- university
bat excludes gay sexually re
ndirectly derides I, for oni
hips. the sexual
abstinence rein- believe fu
at women in par- group on
itrol their bodies this freedc
ty. Abstinence
male marriage KT Lowe
ability to instruct LSA senior
their sexual lives. Lastly,
ous who do not believe
e for political reasons, or
remain single, abstinence
agree with our beliefs or
les.
exual beings. We were all
the physical capability to
xual manner, and most of
ogically capable of deriv-
re from sexual activity.
ing else, sexuality can be
in a socially acceptable,
er. Instead of inflicting
nying information to stu-
far more desirable for a
community to embrace a
sponsible attitude.
e, am pleased that we have
freedom that we do, and I
rther that an abstinence
campus would threaten
iM.
E-MAIL STEIF AT ASTEIF@UMICH.EDU
A- WA~e
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