Page 4 --The Michigan Daily-Wednesday, March 13, 1991
Wbe £iig4an 1ai g
420 Maynard Street
Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109
Edited and Managed
*by Students at the
University of Michigan
ANDREW GOTESMAN
Editor in Chief
STEPHEN HENDERSON
DANIEL POUX
Opinion Editors
Unsigned editorials represent a majority of the Daily's Editorial Board.
All other cartoons, signed articles, and letters do not necessarily represent the opinion of the Daily.
'U' stonewalling
Refusal to concede in GEO negotiations hurts TAs, students
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T ensions are mounting in negotiations between
the University and the Graduate Employees
Organization (GEO).
The University's unwillingness to give any
ground in salary negotiations could lead to a strike
- crippling the entire University.
The package offered by the University included
salary increases of 3.5 percent for 1991-92, a 3.5
percent increase for 1992-93, and a five percent
increase for 1994-95.
This "raise" does not even compensate for basic
increases in the cost of living. And TAs - who are
traditionally underpaid nation-wide - would
clearly suffer under this plan.
Last month, at the outset of negotiations, GEO
requested a salary increase of 15 percent. Recog-
nizing the unlikely chance of the University grant-
ing this pay hike, the TAs scaled down their origi-
nal proposal, and asked for a 12 percent increase
for 1991-92, and a nine percent increase in 1992-
93. But the University's negotiators - despite
GEO's efforts - have refused to budge, or even
negotiate some sort of compromise.
In addition to offering TAs a minimal salary
increase - on the heels of administrators such as
President Duderstadt receiving a five percent raise
this year - the University ignored GEO's other
requests. And these requests would benefit TAs as
well as their students.
The University bargaining committee has ne-
glected GEO's request for an enrollment cap of 25
students per section. This move would cut down on
overcrowding in classrooms and allow TAs to
provide more of the individual attention that stu-
dents need.
Peace CorF
GEO's request for overtime pay outside of the
classroom is an equally legitimate plea that has
gone unanswered. Paying TAs adequately for the
work they are already doing is fair, and would
encourage instructors to spend more time on tasks
such as paper grading-which are a critical part of
their job.
GEO has also requested that the University take
steps to offer TAs greater job security. For ex-
ample, ithas asked that all TAs be hired on a yearly,
not a semesterbasis. TAs would like tobe informed
of departmental hiring and firing plans early on in
the decision-making process. These attempts at
increasing job security are undoubtedly justified in
light of the elimination of 54 TA positions in the
past year.
All of these things affect the undergraduate
experience here. And by denying them, the Uni-
versity is failing to ensure students the best possible
education.
Looming cutbacks in national and state educa-
tion budgets demand that the University begin to
view its budget with increasing scrutiny. Cutbacks
are inevitable in numerous areas throughout the
University community. But the way to make these
cutbacks is not by jeopardizing the human re-
sources that play such an important role in under-
graduate education.
The University should give GEO a reasonable
offer, so that these drawn-out negotiations can
come to an end. Students must realize that if the
University does not give in, and a TA strike erupts,
it is the University's obstinate bargaining tactics
that will shoulder the blame for the sacrifice of our
education at this institution.
New 'Fellows Program' promotes service on the homefront
E' very superpowerhas the responsibility to share
its resources and technology with those nations
that have little of either. The 122,000 American
Peace Corps volunteers, since 1961, have helped
the United States - at least partially - fulfill this
responsibility.
For 30 years, Peace Corps volunteers have
given aid to citizens of third-world nations in an
effort to help them rise from helplessness to self-
sufficiency, by teaching the skills of reading,
writing, and arithmetic, as well as efficient meth-
ods of farming and conservation.
In an ironic twist, this organization, while
continuing aid to other nations, is now turning to
deal with the third-world problems that are now
plaguing major cities in our own nation.
With the celebration of its 30th anniversary, the
Peace Corps, in conjunction with the City of De-
troit, has announced the Fellows/USA Program.
This plan will bring Peace Corps volunteers -
who have acquired rich multicultural experiences
abroad - to Detroit to be hired as permanent
substitute teachers.Simultaneously, volunteers will
be earning a teacher's certificate and a master's
degree in education from the University of
Michigan. The Fellows/USA Program, scheduled
to begin this fall, is patterned after similar programs
already functioning in New York, as well as three
other American cities.
The forethought to make America's school
systems the Peace Corps' "new frontier" is an
admirable move and is worthy oflavish praise. The
Fellows, if continued, could help alter the self-
destructive course of the Detroit Public Schools.
By alleviating the stressfully low number of certi-
fied teachers in the system, and - at the same time
- providing a much needed new perspective to the
present Detroit teaching corps, the Fellows program
is making an investment not only in the City of
Detroit, but in our nation's future.
In the current system of training educators,
student teachers are brought into public schools to
decide whether teaching may be the profession
most suitable for them. Many leave disillusioned
and frustrated. Peace Corps volunteers, however,
are already certain that teaching is their suitable
and preferred profession. More importantly, Fel-
lows volunteers have already experienced the
frustration of teaching and still hold the idealism
necessary to tackle the seemingly overwhelming
debacle of the educational systems in our inner-
cities. Surely, the shameful conditions in
Bangladesh or Haiti will make Detroit's problems
appear more manageable.
Peace Corps volunteers have gained invaluable
human experiences during their service in foreign
countries. Now, the Fellows Program offers them
the chance to share these experiences - and the
knowledge brought by those experiences - with
those most desperately in need, our nation's youth.
To the Daily:
We have noticed that
when we have a chance
to tell our story, people
tend to support us.
Therefore, it's rather
disquieting that the ..
Daily's chosen not to
print our previous
letters, thus effectively
blocking the public from . .4 . ..'
knowing what actually
happened.
So, one more time. : F.a...
Five women went into . . '4 ;
Drake's, ordered, and
sat down. After about 10
minutes of sitting '':."
quietly in the near- ' ...... ..
empty restaurant they_
were approached and Patrice Maurer of ACT-UP protests Drake's
told to leave by the
proprietor, Mr. Tibbals.
At first, we thought it
was just a random act of All in all, a very disturbing
meanness, but Mr. Tibbals' reaction.
comments made it clear there Madelyn Wilder
was more involved. To the senior,
more "feminine" of us, he said Arch. & Urban Planning
"why do you want to hangoutA
with people who look like
that? Look at her!" regarding Mr
some of the less "feminine" of M . Ti bbaS
us. "Maybe you should get not homophobic
yourself some new friends."C
Through direct questioning, it To the Daily:7
became clear that he was It is arrogance of a particular
throwing us out because we female - and, I suspect, lesbian
looked like lesbians. We then white - kind, to assume that1
informed him that there would everyone that doesn't jump to the
be a boycott by the gay beck and call of any given
community and he said, "I feminist issue, regardless of how"
don't care. Get out." ridiculous, is a white male. And1
dOne of the most striking therefore, of necessity, that
things in the violent backlash person is a "politically retarded"
accompanying the counter- underminer of "women's reality"
protest was the aggressive and should probably give
sexism displayed. The men someone the "willies.""
seemed furious that we hadn't I refer to the editorial about
consulted them or somehow the "Drake's five" written -+
sought their approval, and they beautifully in the third person+
were determined to "set us omnipotent - by Beth Chase
straight." The counter- ("Defending the Drake's five," 3/
protesters showed very 11/91). We should thank Chase
aggressive intrusive body for pointing out (bothliterally
language and loud shouting, and figuratively) that evidence is
JOSE JUARE7JDaily
last Thursday afternoon.
not required to make any claims
regarding the motives of
someone we have never met or
spoken with.
Contrary to what "is all-too-
commonly-perceived," hetero-
sexual white males on this
campus are not responsible for
each individual event that goes
wrong, nor every injustice. I
have heard that some even
respect and support women's
and gay rights issues. I would
ask Chase in the future to try to
be more direct with her
generalizations (for example,
limit them to white males who
wear boxers, or have blond
hair).
If we are all to work
together for mutual equality, we
must stop generalizing attitudes
and second guessing everybody
who has an opposing view. We
must also try to focus our
efforts on issues of significance
or motivation and credibility
are quickly diffused.
Peter Argenta
LSA senior
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Volun r fund n for II I A
v
Haiti
United States undermines legitimate democratic process
n presidential elections last Dec. 16, Haitian
voters gave formerpriestJean-BertrandAristide
a landslide victory. Though Aristide was one of 11
candidates, he won70 percent of the votes with his
promises to clean up Haiti's corruption and redis-
tribute its concentrated wealth.
The U.S. government acknowledged Aristide's
victory; given his overwhelming support, there
was not much choice. However, Washington does
not like Aristide because he threatens to disturb
business as usual -which has been quite lucrative
for American corporations.
Between 1969 and 1981, the free trade zones.
which Haiti established~ with American money
made Haiti the ninth largest producer of American
goods in the world. As corporate profits flowed out
of the country, Haitian workers' salaries plum-
meted well below basic subsistence levels.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Agency for Intemational
Development (USAID) was demanding that Haiti
start growing export crops if its government wanted
financial aid. A 1982 USAID study called for 30
percent of Haitian land to be set aside.for export.
crops, even as it admitted that this policy would
"cause a decline in income and nutritional status."
Aristide has promised to change these abuses.
In response, Washington has warned that Haiti will
only receive former levels of aid when it adopts
"good economic policy."
In other words, Aristide must either maintain
free market policies or face both Washington's
wrath and its continual meddling.
While Bush was willing to ship half a million
troops to the other side of the world to "free
Kuwait," he was sabotaging a truly democratic
process in Haiti. Until he irons out these discrep-
ancies in his policy, he will continue sabotaging his
own integrity as well.
Two days into the 1991 Michi-
gan Student Assembly (MSA)
Presidential Election, I am truly
disheartened that all of the parties
-from the Conservative Coalition
to the Anti-
Imperialist
Action Brad
Caucus - Bernatek
speak of
student
concerns,
but disre-
gard the is- .
sue of man-
funding and '
the possible
conversion.
to voluntary
funding.
For those unfamiliar with MSA,
it is the campus-wide student gov-
ernment - duly elected by 10 per-
cent of the student body. Every year,
lemma. Presently, each student is
charged a mandatory MSA fee of
about $14 per year. Amidst tuition
bills amounting to thousands of
dollars, 14 bucks seems trivial;
however, collectively, the manda-
tory fee provides the MSA coffers
with about half a million dollars.
Since MSA is usually elected
by a small percentage of the entire
University, it is, in most cases,
unrepresentative ofpopular campus
opinion. The summer excursion to
the West Bank and the anti-war
movement - both of which were
supported largely by MSA dollars
- are good examples of minority
opinions that have proven to
dominate the MSA agenda. The
student body is done a great dis-.
service by such unrepresentative
movements funded involuntarily
due to the mandatory funding.
Furthermore, mandatory fund-
ing of MSA only discourages real,.
government is an insult to the stu-
dents of this University. MSA has
become the tool of a minority, an
exclusive little club, with thepower
to spend tens of thousands of dol-
lars on whatever they wish. With-
out adequate student involvement,
MSA is not a true, representative
government.A studentgovernment,
in the purest sense, receives a
mandatefrom a majority of students
and reflects the needs and views of
the student body, not a select mi-
nority of 10 percent.
While I would love to see large
scale voting indicating that MSA is
a republican assembly - and a rep-
resentative government - we can
only expect about 3,000 students to
vote - hardly a mandate of the
masses..The other 90percent either
don't know about MSA or don't
care enough to vote. Surely, these
are not willing participants in the
great MSA family, or at least they@
Nuts and Bolts
r WHY K NA *E. I '
by Judd Winick
IL AN 2 7lNK ONE. EARRIN47)
TNCSE GUYS DO HRVE
-rn cwa-r n.rr f"vfnwi
IWHERE ARE iHEY NOW?' I