The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Thursday, February 9, 2012 - 7A
More airports to test
GAtj lower-hassle screening
NATE CHUTE/A
Jeff Giard, right, holds up a rainbow flag in support of same-sex marriage on the corner of Third and E streets as traffic flows through Marysville, Calif after a
federal appeals court declared California's same-sex marfiage ban unconstitutional on Tuesday.
Path to Supreme Court unclear after
Proposition 8 ruled unconstitutional
TSA program
hopes to streamline
security process
WASHINGTON (AP) - A new
passenger screening program to
make check-in more convenient
for certain travelers is being
expanded to 28 more major
U.S. airports, the government
said yesterday. There will be no
cost to eligible passengers, who
would no longer have to remove
their shoes and belts before they
board flights.
The airports include the three
used by hijackers to launch the
terror attacks in September
2001: Washington Dulles Inter-
national Airport, Newark Lib-
erty International Airport in
New Jersey and Boston's Logan
International Airport.
The Transportation Secu-
rity Administration's program,
already in a test phase in seven
other airports, is the Obama
administration's first attempt at
a passenger screening program
responsive to frequent com-
plaints that the government is
not using common sense when
it screens all passengers at air-
ports in the same way. Under
the new program, eligible trav-
elers have the option to volun-
teer more personal information
about themselves so that the
government can vet them for
security purposes before they
arrive at airport checkpoints.
"Good, thoughtful, sensible
security by its very nature facili-
tates lawful travel and legiti-
mate commerce," Homeland
Security Secretary Janet Napol-
itano said.
The program works this way:
Participating travelers will
walk through a dedicated lane
at airport security checkpoints.
They will provide the TSA offi-
cer with a specially marked
boarding pass. A machine will
read the barcode, and travelers
deemed "low-risk," will likely be
allowed to keep on belts, shoes
and jackets and leave laptops
and liquids in bags when being
screened.
Not everyone is eligible to
participate in the program,
which is already being tested
at airports in Atlanta, Dal-
las, Detroit, Miami, Las Vegas,
Los Angeles and Minneapolis-
St. Paul. Eligible travelers are
some of those who participate
in American and Delta airlines'
frequent flier programs, as well
as travelers in three other trust-
ed traveler programs run by the
Customs and Border Protection
agency, which do charge fees
to participate. About 336,000
passengers have been screened
through the program since the
testing began last year, accord-
ing to the Transportation Secu-
rity Administration.
Experts say 9th
Circuit ruling
is purposefully
narrow
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Con-
servative critics like to point out
that the federal appeals court
that just declared California's
same-sex marriage ban to be
unconstitutional has its decisions
overturned by the U.S. Supreme
Court more often than other judi-
cial circuits, a record that could
prove predictive if the high court
agrees to review the gay marriage
case on appeal.
Yet legal experts seemed to
think the panel of the San Fran-
cisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit of
Appeals struck down the voter-
approved ban on Tuesday pur-
posefully served up its 2-1 opinion
in a, narrow way and seasoned
it with established holdings so
the Supreme Court would be less
tempted to bite.
The appeals court not only
limited the scope of its decision
to California, even though the
9th Circuit also has jurisdiction
in eight other western states, but
relied on the Supreme Court's
own 1996 decision overturning a
Colorado measure that outlawed
discrimination protections for
gay people to argue that the voter-
approved Proposition 8 violated
the civil rights of gay and lesbian
Californians.
That approach makes it much
less likely the high court would
find it necessary to step in, as it
might have if the 9th Circuit panel
had concluded that any state laws
or amendments limiting marriage
to a man and a woman run afoul of
the U.S. Constitution's promise of
equal treatment, several analysts
said. '
"There is no reason to believe
four justices on the Supreme
Court, which is what it takes to
grant (an appeal) petition, are
champing at the bit to take this
issue on," University of Michigan
law school professor Steve Sand-
ers said. "The liberals on the court
are going to recognize this was
a sensible, sound decision that
doesn't get ahead 'of the national
debate ... and I don't think the
decision would be so objection-
able to the court's conservatives
that they would see a reason to
reach out and smack the 9th Cir-
cuit."
Lawyers for the coalition of
religious conservative groups
that qualified Proposition 8 for
the November 2008 ballot and
campaigned for its passage said
they have not decided whether to
ask a bigger 9th Circuit to rehear
the case or to take an appeal
directly to the Supreme Court.
However, they said they were
optimistic that if the high court
accepts an appeal, Tuesday's rul-
ing would be reversed.
"The 9th Circuit's decision
is completely out of step with
every other federal appellate
and Supreme Court decision in
American history on the subject
of marriage, but it really doesn't
come as a surprise, given the his-
tory of the 9th Circuit, which is
often overturned," Andy Pugno,
the coalition's general counsel,
said in a fundraising letter to
Proposition 8's supporters. "Ever
since the beginning of this case,
we've known that the battle to
-preserve traditional marriage
will ultimately be won or lost
not here, but rather in the U.S.
Supreme Court."
Regardless of their next steps,
gay and lesbian couples were
unlikely to be able to get mar-
ried in California anytime soon.
The 9th Circuit panel's ruling
will not take effect until after the
deadline passes in two weeks for
Proposition 8's backers to appeal
to a larger panel, and the earliest
the Supreme Court could consid-
er whether to take the case would
be in the fall.
UN report: Caribbean
crime hurting economies
LAYOFFS
From Page 1A
faculty. He added that the Uni-
versity has already hired half of a
proposed 100 junior-level faculty
members and is expected to hire
an additional 50 faculty members.
"We see that as a very positive
thing for the University," he said.
"It's a pretty significant commit-
ment among major U.S. universi-
ties today."
Yet these changes are being
made at the expense of qualified
lecturers such as MacPherson.
Fitzgerald said the department
made its decision after much
deliberation, and gave the lectur-
ers fair warning. He added that
the deptartment has been avail-
able to offer assistance to those
affected. He said the layoffs that
are happening in the philosophy
department are not indicative of a
general trend of lecturer layoffs at
the University.
"I know the department
feels strongly that this is the
right move for the department,"
Fitzgerald said. "Generally, there
certainly are people who would
see this as a positive move to have
more introductory classes taught
by faculty ... tenure and tenure-
track faculty."
Kirsten Herold, vice presi-
dent of the Lecturers' Employee
Organization and a lecturer in
the School of Public Health,
administers union contracts for
LEO, which sets guidelines for
the relationship between lectur-
ers and the University. Herold
said the University is expecting
to have more tenure-track faculty
teaching undergraduate courses
- which has already begun to
happen over the years in depart-
ments such as geology, Spanish
and English - but added that
the situation in the philoso-
phy department has been more
extreme.
"(MacPherson and Sax are)
being laid off because they're lec-
turers," Herold said. "The depart-
ment has basically decided that
they don't want lecturers any-
more. It's not because of the qual-
ity of undergraduate education,
because these two are incredibly
good and popular teachers."
Usually, if a department wants
to replace lecturers with profes-
sors, the lecturers are relocated
within the department to teach
a lower-level course. However,
Herold explained that MacPher-
son and Sax are already teaching
introductory courses.
Herold added there is a greater
distinction between the levels of
courses in other fields of study
and it is easier for the University
to haveinstructors other courses,
noting that lecturers can teach
introductory levels and profes-
sors can teach advanced mate-
rial. But that isn't the case in
a department like philosophy,
where tenure-track faculty teach
lower level courses, according to
Herold.
Herold said the philosophy
department is not financially
struggling since it holds inde-
pendent wealth from private
endowments, and therefore firing
lecturers is not a financial neces-
sity but a strategic decision for
the department to employ more
researchers.
"They didn't have to do this,"
Herold said. "This is not a depart-
ment that is struggling ... in terms
of their budgets. They did it
because they wanted to."
Herold said she is outraged
about how MacPherson and Sax
have been treated.
"I'm really upset about this,"
she said. "I'm so frustrated and
angry about it ... their profession-
al life has been spent here."
MacPherson said the letter he
received justified the layoffs as a
"curriculum change" and called
the letter "very cold, very imper-
sonal."
MacPherson said these chang-
es mean that smaller courses,
which are usually taught by lec-
turers, are being replaced with
larger, lecture-based courses
taught by professors, adding that
increased class sizes take away
from how students will learn in
the classroom. With larger class-
es, mostofthe studentswill inter-
act more with graduate student
instructors rather than directly
with the instructor, he said.
"I think it will decrease the
quality of education because
instead of having a class of maybe
50 students ... now it's this mega-
course," MacPherson said. "You
may not even really get to interact
with the professor at all."
MacPherson added that phi-
losophy is taught more effectively
in a smaller, more personal setting
that better facilitates learning.
"If you increase the class size of
a philosophy class, you're defeat-
ing the purpose of teaching phi-
losophy ... you may as well not
teach it," MacPherson said. "It
makes me feel ... bad for the stu-
dents."
Sax agreed with MacPherson,
and said he doesn't see the ben-
efits of tenured faculty teaching
over lecturers.
"I can't see any principal dif-
ference between a lecturer, as a
teacher of undergraduates, and
a tenure-track faculty member,"
Sax said. "I couldn't say in general
it's going to get worse, unless of
course classes get bigger."
Sax said all student-teacher
relationships begin in the class-
room, and if a class size is too
large, it will be harder for conver-
sations to take place. He said the
fact that tenure-track professors
at the University have to put their
research first can also affect how
well students get to know their
teachers.
"I think I had a phenomenally
good relationship with my stu-
dents," Sax said. "I don't want
to be anything other than what
I have been doing. It's a dream
job for me ... I love my work," Sax
said.
Despite the concern of grow-
ing class sizes, Fitzgerald said
new measures are being taken by
the University to prevent classes
from swelling in the wake of the
new faculty hires.
LSA senior Grace Bowden said
in general, she has had better
learning experiences with some
of her lecturers than with profes-
sors, who are not always as acces-
sible.
"They are enjoying teaching,
they're not doing it for research
as much," Bowden said.
Bowden, who took a bioethics
class taught by MacPherson last
semester, said she is outraged by
the decision to let him go.
"I think it's a huge shame to lay
off people that are really fantastic
teachers just because they're not
full professors," Bowden said.
Bowden said MacPherson
engaged students and challenged
them to consider other perspec-
tives, adding he always put the
class first.
"He was super interactive," she
said. "A lot of professors do tend
to just lecture but he always asked
us questions."
Cener for enture Capital&
iest e Private Equity Finance
Largest ever study
on region cites
violence as
tourism killer
PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad
(AP) - Rising crime across the
Caribbean threatens the region's
tourism-based economy and has
exposed a weak and ineffective
judicial system, according to a
sweeping U.N. study released
yesterday.
Every Caribbean nation
except Barbados and Suriname
reported a spike in homicide
rates and gang-related killings
over the past 12 years even as
violent crime has fallen or stabi-
lized in most other places across
the globe, according to the 2012
Caribbean Human Development
Report.
The U.N. said it was the larg-
est survey ever to focus on crime
in the Caribbean.
U.N. officials singled out
Jamaica and Trinidad for
alarming levels of gang-related
homicides that almost doubled
from 2006 to 2009.
Jamaica has the world's third-
highest murder rate, with about
60 murders per 100,000 inhabit-
ants, while Trinidad reported a
fivefold increase in its murder rate
over the past decade and now has
36 killings per 100,000 people.
"The report challenges gov-
ernments of the English and
Dutch Caribbean to action," said
Trinidad Prime Minister Kamla
Persad-Bissessar, adding that
she supports the report's recom-
mendations.
The Caribbean Community
trade bloc found that gang-
related crime costs member
countries as much as 4 percent
of their gross domestic product.
Jamaica loses $529 million a
year, according to the report.
"Violence limits people's
choices, threatens their physi-
cal integrity and disrupts their
daily lives," said Helen Clark,
the U.N. Development Program
administrator who unveiled the
report in Trinidad.
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