OPINION
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Page 6
The Michigan Daily
Vol. XCIII, No. 19-S
93 Years of Editorial Freedom
Managed and Edited by students of
The University of Michigan
Editorials represent a majority opinion of the
Daily Editorial Board
The Michigan Daily
Thursday, July 7, 1983
LETTERS TO THE DAILY:
'Dismayed' by Daily editorial
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Evil curriculum,
WARNING: One of our leading experts on
propaganda has charged America's
largest teachers union with "brainwashing"
America's schoolchildren. The expert -
President Reagan - recently claimed the
National Education Association (NEA) has
been trying to "manipulate curriculum for
propaganda purposes." Chalk up another
ludicrous statement for the "Gipper."
Reagan is referring to a curriculum on
nuclear war developed by the NEA and the
Union of Concerned Scientists. It was designed
to' teach students about resolving conflicts
through negotiation, rather than relying on an
enormous arsenal of nuclear weapons.
Not only are Reagan's charges unfair and un-
substantiated, but they also reek of hypocrisy.
How can a President who has tried to convince
us there is a "Communist threat" in virtually
every country in the world; tried to convince us
our economic woes are the fault of past ad-
ministrations; and tried to convince us he is
sincerely interested in arms control, criticize
anyone of brainwashing?
Furthermore, even if Reagan's charge that
the NEA's curriculum was aimed at
"frightening and brainwashing American
schoolchildren" is true, he has only his
dangerously excessive defense budget to
blame. We all have good cause to be frightened
about nuclear war, and thus far, Reagan's
policies have done nothing to alleviate our fear.
In a world that is pushed closer to nuclear
destruction every day, we commend the NEA
and others who understand the importance of
openly discussing the dangers of nuclear war.
Perhaps their "brainwashing" of-
schoolchildren will someday help bring an end
to the maddening arms race.
- As for President Reagan, he will no doubt
continue fighting the evil, "brainwashing"
teachers union and try to get our schools back
to teaching the basics - the basics of red-
baiting and arms racing, that is.
CASEY
1TELuGECE ANVESTtvENT
gENC ASSMCA'Ys
To the Daily:
I am greatly dismayed that last,
month's Daily editorial totally
fabricated an issue and my
position on it ("Guiding light,"
Daily, June 18).
The editorial - which dealt
with ethical procedures for
research - contained poor inter-
pretations/fabrications:
"University administrators
believe that- professors and
students are already aware that
plagiarism, falsification of data,
and theft of other's work are
inappropriate... The University's
Assistant Vice President for
Research, Alan Price has ex-
pressed confidence that "peer
review" severely limits the
amount of plagiarism, abuse of
confidentiality, and falsification
of data that takes place. Such a
claim is baseless without specific
statutes to separate ethical and
non-ethical reserach... By relying
on "peer review" alone to weed
out unethical research, the
University is acting blindly."
I never said any of these words,
and this statement and im-
plication is a gross misinter-
pretation of the facts and my
position. In fact: It was I who,
repeatedly during the last year,
brought the issue to the "ad-
ministration" (the executive of-
ficers, the faculty/student
Research Policies Committee,
the associate deans of the
Research Advisory Council , the
deans and directors of the
Academic Affairs Advisory
Council, and our staff), the issue
of whether the University should
adopt a set of ethical principles
on honesty in research.
These discussions have lead to
an agreement to appoint a Task
Force on Integrity of Scholar-
ship, under the faculty governan-
ce committee SACUA and the
Vice Presidents for Academic Af-
fairs and Research, which will
begin work this fall, with drafting
a set of such principles as one
goal.
Indeed, that is why I recom-
mended there be -a respected
faculty committee (the soon-to-
be-appointed Task Force,
recruited by SACUA) to consider
these issues and draft a
statement of ethical principles or
guidelines, for campus-wide
discussion. Your editorial is a
gross misrepresentation of those
facts, which could be prevented
perhaps by the adoption by the
Daily of a truth in journalism
code?
-Alan Price
Assistant Vice President for Research
June 18, 1983
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Writer should read dictionary
To the Daily:
I read with interest the letter
from G. Hoffman in the Daily of
June 2 in which he refers to
"reverse discrimination". I
would call Hoffman's attention to
the definitionof reverse, as found
in the Merriman-Webster Dic-
tionary: To wit: "reverse: op-
posite to a previous or normal
condition; effecting reverse
movement; acting or operating
in a manner opposite or con-
trary; effecting reverse
movement; to turn completely
about in position or direction; to
set aside or change (as a legal
decision); to turn or move in the
opposite direction."
Please attend to the recurrent
term "opposite". Opposite means
(same reference) "something
that is at the other end or side; on
opposite sides"
If Hoffman were to substitute
any of the foregoing definitions
for the term "reverse
discrimination" he would have a
problem justifying the use of the
phrase.
Never, in the history of this
country, have Blacks been affor-
ded equal treatment. To reverse
the discriminatory practices of
the past would necessitate
passing through the plane of
equality...situations would be the
same on both sides. Only then, as
the pendulum passes to the ex-
treme opposite end, could we ac-
curately refer to "reverse!"
Placing whites at one end of the
continuum and blacks at the
other, the measuring device
would move along to a point that
would be equidistant from both
ends. Then, further progress
would indicate a reversal of
position.
Utili blacks are treated
equally in all instances no one to redress the inequities prac-
with any basic understanding of ticed in the past.
affirmative action can charge - Frances Vaughn
reverse discrimination when this, Director, Minority Student Affairs,
or any other, institution attempts School of Public Health
A 'perceptive thinker'
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To the Daily:
I'm so glad the Daily is staffed
this summer with perceptive
thinkers like Katie Blackwell,
whose "Stereotyping 'U' Greeks
'absurd' " article, (Daily, June 18)
so brilliantly cut through all the
superficial baloney we've been
hearing about the Greek system
lately. Now, thanks to her acute
"inside" analysis, we know that
all those folks in their snappy
preppy uniforms are really
staunch individuals, not mindless
conformists. It's probably just a
conincidence thattnone of Katie's
sisters wear other kinds of
clothes, like Indian saris,
Japanese Kimonos, or "new
wave."
Now, if those turkeys in that
fraternity house at State and
Madison streets would stop
blasting me out of my bed at 3
a.m. with their outdoor-rock-con-
cert-simulating "wall shaker"
stereo and their arsenal of
firecrackers (what civic-minded
boys!), I'll probably start
believing that the Greek
"system" is something more
than the loose aggregation of
Mickey Mouse clubs I used to
think it was.
- John Green
Department of Near Eastern
Studies
Bias showing
To the Daily:
Regarding your headline on
page five of the June 16 edition,
"High Court affirms right to
abortion," (Daily, June 16):
There is a great deal of dif-
ference between finding specific
regulations about abortion to be
unconstitutional and declaring
that anyone has a right to abor-
tions.
Your bias is showing.
-Steven Graham
June 17, 1983
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Unsigned editorials appearing on the left side
of this page represent a majority opinion of the
Daily's Editorial Board. Letters and columns
represent the opinions of the individual author(s)
and do not necessarily reflect the attitudes or
beliefs of the Daily:
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