4 Opinion Page 10 Friday, June 19, 1981 The Michigan Daily The Michigan Daily Vol. XCI, No. 32-S Ninety Years of Editorial Freedom Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan Reluctant assent THE DAILY RELUCTANTLY supports the recommendation of Academic Affairs Vice-president Bill Frye that the University's geography department be discontinued. At the same time, however, we harbor grave misgivings over the largely closed and secretive process by which the decision was reached, and vigorously urge that a more open and judicious method be established regarding similar determinations in the future. It has been obvious several years now that the geography department, once ranked among the best in the nation, was in increasing trouble. Some of its most accomplished professors have retired or relocated without adequate replacement, and its student enrollment con- tinues to dwindle. The department's budget has shrunk concurrently with its declining quality-thus effectively quashing any hope of geography's reclaiming its former reputation. Proponents of discontinuance offer reasonably persuasive arguments questioning the 1980s validity of the geographic discipline-which always endured as a kind of all-encompassing educational grab bag. It would be relatively simple for students to gain geographic knowledge in other, overlapping subjects-such as geology, archaeology and history. We feel economic realities necessitate fun- damental cuts within the University. The geography department, with the smallest num- ber of majors in the social sciences at Michigan, and boasting a higher per-student cost than most other departments, seems the most logical of potential sacrifices. Nonetheless, Frye's approach to the issue remains highly questionable. The vice- president acknowledges he supported ter- mination from the first day of review-long before the obligatory process of hearings was held. Though Frye professed to maintain an open mind throughout the hearings, the depar- tment's eventual demise was foreshadowed from the start. The administration largely failed to en- courage student and faculty input on their decision-indeed, the review process remained a virtual mystery until after the fact. Frye was still holding "persuade me" discussions this past Monday after his recommendation was written, typed and signed. A final lesson emerges from this long and painful process. Perhaps in the future, when a department begins to decline, the University should come to its aid quickly rather than per- petuate its ailings by gradually, systematically cutting allocations. With a little preventive care, the patient might not have become ter- minal in the first place. Never another closet! By Jane Rosenthal This year marks the twelfth anniversary of the Christopher Street Rebellion in Greenwich Village. Twelve years ago gay people fought back every night for a week against police harassment at the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar. Lesbians and gay men com- memorate this event every year as Lesbian-Gay Pride week, because that rebellion market the end of an era of shame and hiding and the beginning of an era of pride and openess for us. It is in that spirit that we urge the lesbain and gay male com- munities to join the Lesbian-gay pride march march and rally June 20th, 1 p.m., at the Federal Bldg. " YOU SECULAR HUMANIST!" NO l" F X -- M GOO H 4OaHIS FAc6 -r -q e" e .' -9( .f s -rkasrT It is only through unity and ac- tivism that we have achieved the small gains of. the past twelve years, and it is only through unity and activism that we can protect those gains and move forward in the 1980s. Let none of us be misled: lesbians and gay men are under attack. Today violence against gays is escalating - especially in San Francisco, whereattacks have increased 400 percent in the last year. Today gay baths in Toronto are being raided with sledgeham- mers. Today the Senate is con- sidering the so-called "Family Protection Act", introduced by Reagan crony Paul Laxalt; this bill includes a ban on providing any government funds, such as unemployment benefits, food stamps, welfare, etc., to "known or suspected homosexuals". The sum of all the provisions of the FPA is anti-Black, anti-labor, anti-gay, and anti-woman. we cannot sit by quietly and be vic- tims - we must fight back, vocally and forcefully. The attacks on lesbians and gay men are not an isolated phenomenon. It is no coincidence that they come at a time of economic crisis, of layoffs and war build-up. And it is not an ac- cident that in this period we are also witnessing a horrifying escalation of vicious racist at- tacks on the Black community, from Buffalo to Atlanta. Homophobia, racism, and sexism are weapons used to keep working people divided and powerless, to turn us against each other, and to prevent our uniting against our real enemy. It is absolutely crucial that lesbians and gay men, as fighters for liberation, lend our strength and dedication to the struggle for the liberation of ati people. For we are all people - black, brown, yellow, red, and white - and we cannot win, any of us, alone. That is why the theme of our march and rally this-year is not just celebration, but action; not just action, but action in alliance with all people working for a better world. It is not an exaggeration to compare what we are facing now with the situation in pre-war Nazi Germand. Government, business, and religious leaders. spout the rhetoric of fear, hate, racism, and heterosexism. Let us show them, this week and every day of our lives, that we have learned the tragic lessons of that other time. Let us stand up and fight back. Never again the pink triangle, never again another closet!! Jane Rosenthal is a member of the Outreach & Community Action Committee of Gay Community Services. 4 4 4 4