OPINION Page6 Friday, May 13, 1988 The Michigan Daily Ecology Center should dump Domino's: .... _Compromising values Unsigned editorials represent the majority views of the Daily's Editorial Board. Cartoons and signed editorials do not necessarily reflect the Daily's opinion. Framing the question of research: D iversi*ficatio WHAT MIGHT RESEARCH have to gain from diversity? This question was at the center of an invitational Diversity Symposium on North Campus last weekend. Sponsored by the office of the Vice President for Research, about 150 University faculty mulled over how increased numbers of women and minority researchers will impact various aspects of the research enterprise. The University administration deserves some acknowledgement for its belated effort to recognize that research conducted by the white male minority - which currently dominates the research faculty at the University - may be governed by paradigms, ideologies and theoreti- cal systems specific to the special interests of that class. However, the premise on which the entire sym- posium was based is flawed in sev- eral basic ways and indicates once again the administration's utter failure to understand the dynamics of institutional racism and sexism and the demands of those who are working to dismantle these dynam- ics. First, the central question is backwards. Research is not an end in and of itself but rather exists to benefit the community in which the University is embedded. The real question is how research benefits or impedes diversity in that society. If research is working to support the forces which keep women and mi- norities disadvantaged and disen- franchised, then the University has an institutional responsibility to change the nature of that research and change the ways in which re- searchers are chosen to participate in the institution. The question, as it framed the terms of the debate last Saturday, implies that the University has a choice. It implies that if a consen- sus somehow emerged among the 150 faculty participants last Satur- day that increasing diversity would not benefit their research, then nothing would have to be changed. In fact, the University is under a moral obligation to open its doors to researchers and future researchers of all races and genders. Women and minorities are demanding to be ac- cepted into the University commu- nity, and are demanding that the administration create a hospitable environment in which their intel- lectual endeavors will flourish and be valued. This symposium was created through the demands, confrontations, and tensions fos- tered by those, such as the United Coalition Against Racism, who recognize the University's obliga- tion to society. The mob in the courtyard clearly forced the Univer- sity's hand. Several issues connected with the diversity/research question were glaringly obvious by their absence. The current flight of women and minority graduate students from the University, for example, was not discussed at all. The racist and sex- ist effect of implementing a ten- term teaching limit and a tuition waiver tax on groups of researchers who have been academically and economically disadvantaged, was not considered. The contradictions posed by the University's grudging acknowl- edgement of its responsibility to diversify the research community, and its refusal to stop research sponsored by the U.S. white male- controlled military on chemical weapons to be used on people of color in the Third World, also went unmentioned. The University administration has been forced to acknowledge a very real problem in our commu- nity, and it is, in a fumbling, inef- fective way, attempting to address it. Allowing for diversification in research will benefit both the Uni- versity and society as a whole. To break down the institutional racism and sexism which currently pervade research, however, will require much more than a symposium at which questions are asked from a skewed perspective, and issues which suggest the possibility of significant change are avoided. THE ANN ARBOR Ecology Center, though a worthwhile and important asset to the community, hurts its own credibility by continually ac- cepting the aid and support of the Domino's empire, as evidenced by their joint sponsorship of the Ecol- ogy Center bike-a-thon May 1. Due to Domino's ecologically unsound and socially unjust prac- tices at home and abroad, it is hyp- ocritical for the Ecology Center to maintain its relationship with Domino's and its owner, Tom Monaghan. Last Christmas season at their world headquarters in Ann Arbor, Domino's, a $150 million mul- tinational empire, held an extensive light show. This project, which cost roughly three million dollars, tied up traffic for miles around the site. The tremendous amounts of energy consumed in the light show and the fossil fuels burned while traffic was held up for hours demonstrate that the project was ecologically unsound. Also, in at- tempts to expand their facilities, Domino's has proposed to buy land for high income homes, ignoring and adding to the expanding home- lessness problem. In 1985, Monaghan began pizza production in Honduras. Honduras is the second poorest country in this hemisphere, and Monaghan, in his move there, has taken advantage of the cheap labor force. He sup- ports the elite business class which perpetuates the current poverty-rid- den economic structure. Honduras has traditionally been little more than a U.S. colony. In a land where malnutrition is endemic, cash crops produced for export oc- cupy 52 percent of the arable land. U.S. corporations own each of the five largest firms in Honduras. Militarily, Honduras has always been a location of strategic impor- tance for the United States. The U.S. military 'presence there has caused the displacement of many people, ecological destruction, loss of agricultural productivity, and the rise of prostitution. Monaghan's enterprise in Hon- duras demonstrates his continued support for the very sector of Hon- duran society which controls the vast majority of wealth, supports U.S. military expansion, works to legitimize the existence of the con- tras in Honduras, and fuels the death squads for which the Honduran government is now on trial in an unprecedented case before the Inter- American Court of Human Rights. Corporations such as Domino's attempt to improve their public image at home by sponsoring community events. It is one thing if a corporation wants to quietly contribute to community organiza- tions; however, funding is most often contingent on public recogni- tion of the gift, and the Ecology Center ends up promoting Domino's and Monaghan when they publicly recognize their spon- sorship. Because of the Domino's connection, many individuals who support the Ecology Center are un- fairly being forced to compromise their ideals by indirectly supporting Monaghan and Domino's. The Ecology Center, while continuing its important work around envi- ronmental issues, should break all ties with Domino's. 'U' should offer Korean A UNIVERSITY STUDENT looking through the course offerings in lan- guages will not run across Korean 101. The University's exclusion of Korean language demeans the Ko- rean culture and rich heritage in the United States. Not only is this insulting to the Korean people but it is also a gross oversight that hurts both the University and its students. A student at the University can- not choose Korean from among the 33 different foreign languages, al- though Korea has become an in- creasingly significant country to the United States. In addition, there are presently over 350,000 people of Korean descent in the United States, making Korean the third largest Asian group in the United States. Close to 65 percent of these people have immigrated to the United States since 1975. zili i1\ M i. GN DV SU + .. Un3 MrW~ Despite these facts, the language is still not taught at the University. Sadly, one can only assume the University not only views the lan- guage as unimportant, but also sees the Korean culture and literature as expendable. This is not to suggest that the University ought to offer a course in every recognized language and culture - there are too many - but it is a mistake to exclude one as important as Korean when the University is capable of offering so many. It is obvious that the task of teaching Korean is far from impos- sible, because many colleges and universities smaller than the Uni- versity of Michigan have Korean progams. The Korean Student Association (KSA) has proposed that the Uni- versity offer a four semester se- quence of Korean, which is the amount the University designates for the foreign language require- ment. The University community should support the KSA in its lob- bying efforts to force the University to fund the inception of a Korean language and culture program. Also, the University needs to re- examine its criteria for offering courses, as its present system is vague and obviously skewed.