4 - The Michigan Daily - Friday, September 22, 1995 br £kb~igun ilg BRENT MCINTOSH MCINTOSH CLASSICS 420 Maynard Ann Arbor, MI 48109 Edited and managed by Ulstudents at the University of Michigan MICHAEL ROSENBERG Editor in Chief JULIE BECKER JAMES M. NASH Editorial Page Editors 7e out-ofst ate student s' s a: Unless otherwise noted, unsigned editorials reflect the opinion of a majority of the Daily's editorial board. A ll other articles, letters, and cartoons do not necessarily reflect the opinion of The Michigan Daily. Sign dhere AAmencean Sig-n Language deserves U' credit T hey've got the old standbys: French, German, Spanish and Latin. They've also got the exotic: Urdu, Tamil and other languages. Does the University, however, offer for credit one of the most common languages used in the United States? No. Students cannot take an American Sign Lan- guage (ASL) for credit here. This deficiency must be remedied. ASL is the third most common language in the United States - behind only English and Spanish. Its use surpasses that of all foreign languages taught at the University except Spanish. Furthermore, it is recog- nized by the state of Michigan as a foreign language. The language certainly is worthy of a class. Students in the College of LSA must demonstrate fourth-term proficiency in a sec- ond language to graduate with a Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Science degree. ASL is already recognized by the University as suf- ficient to fulfill this requirement - to re- ceive credit for it, a student needs to have proof of four semesters of the language from another institution. Many other schools offer ASL for credit, including Michigan State. Why can't the University keep up? One of LSA's objectives in requiring a second language is to educate students about another culture. A traditional argument against ASL as a second language has been that there is no culture to be taught along with it.'Yet ASL does in fact have a unique culture and history - that of the strong and active deaf community in the United States. Fur- thermore, if the goal of second-language ac- quisition is to communicate effectively with people of another culture, ASL no doubt will fit the bill. Another objection some raise is that there is no department into which to fit ASL. As the system works, a department has to come forward to request faculty and resources to teach a course. The Asian languages depart- ment came forward to request funding for Tamil, but no department has ever come forward with an interest in teaching ASL. Many have mentioned the linguistics depart- ment as a logical home for ASL--there is, in fact, a faculty member within the department who could teach the language. The Univer- sity has the resources to offer ASL for credit - it need only swing them into action. In recent years, the word "foreign" was dropped from the language requirement, so that ASL could be included as an acceptable second language. The University must fol- low this symbolic step with real action. It would be a progressive step for ASL to gain the status it deserves, and interest has indeed been expressed in the idea from all sides. Joan E. Smith, coordinator of Services forthe Deaf and Hard of Hearing, observed that her telephone rings off the hook with students asking about this non-existent class, and LSA Associate Dean Lincoln Faller calls it an "intriguing prospect." Despite this interest, the best the University can do at this point in time is to offer the language as a no-credit mini-course. American Sign Language de- serves more attention than that. 66 Soda" is an anachronism. A soda is what my father got in the early '60s after he nervously asked the cute girl down the street (now known as Mom) if she wanted to go to the corner store. In these moderntimes, people drink Coke, or Pepsi, or even - dare I mention? - pop. Sure, it sounds stupid. I'm not going to lie to you: Pop is a dumb name for the carbonated, caffeine-laden beverages that enable many of us to survive 9 a.m. lectures about "sea urchins and their mating rituals." "Pop," though, is exponentially better than "soda," which gives me visions of run- ning into the soda fountain to get one for me and my "steady girl" as the four cheerful men in matching Texaco suits wash the windshield, check the tires and oil, and fill the tank ofthe 1958 Bel Air my father loaned me for our big date - be back by 10 or else. Whatever they call it outside the Mid- west or in foreign countries like New Jersey, in Michigan we call it pop. And we play euchre. And, yes, we root for the Lions. These are Midwestern things, Michigan things. They are much misunderstood by those who cannot call themselves Michigan- ders - almost as much as why we would possibly refer to ourselves as "Michigan- ders." Thirty percent of Michigan's students are out-of-staters. You know who you are. Don't be ashamed; turn to the person next to you and greet them with a hearty "I'm an out-of-stater." Sure, they'll stare at you like you're crazy - that's a sign of affection here. But don't do it until you've finished this crash course on Michigan an Only then can you claim to und Let's clear up some mispercep the state and the students who co Let's start with ... Tuition: Out-of-staters are al plaining about the tuition differ You pay so much, we pay so lit This is a myth. In reality, w anything. They pay us to go to s just so that you'll feel good when not to know the answers. In fact, your tuition, Miss Ea the mainstay ofthis state's econor up 86 percent of the state's Gros Product. What about the car industry, Cars: The whole auto-indus another carefully propagated u signed to convince out-of-staters ganders really toil like other Ar while in fact we really just wa hunt, living off turnip and so enues. Cars have never been manu Michigan. We import them fr4 and translate their names into E perform the work ourselves? A ding? In fact, we made up the w Ford-mass production story to; car story. Mass production was a ated in 1953 by the Saudis; Hen a small-time Ypsilanti mayonr man who never rode in a car in I closest he came to inventing m tion was 1909, when a load of sp Mfrhzgan d in-staters. he delivered drove 650 people to enter the erstand us. hospital simultaneously. tions about The Upper Peninsula: Let's face it: The )me from it. Upper Peninsula doesn't exist. Much of it is just a figment of your imagination. lways com- The rest of it, the part that really does ential here. exist, isn't part of Michigan. The existing tle. U.P. is Canada, pure and simple. So are e don't pay Wisconsin and Minnesota, for that matter. chool here, Why U-M?: Many out-of-staters think we pretend that Michiganders attend Michigan because we weren't accepted elsewhere. This is partly stcoaster, is true: We weren't accepted at out-of-state ny. It makes schools because we didn't apply. s Domestic For most of us, it was ignorance: we just didn't realize there were schools associated you ask? with those other football teams. How could stry saga is Joe Kalamazoo know that Virginia wasn't intruth, de- just a sports club, that students actually that Michi- matriculated there? We thought Michigan nericans - was the only football team in the country ater-ski and with a school attached. ybean rev- Deficiencies: While Ann Arbor, with its high proportion of non-Michiganders, has ifactured in all the modern conveniences - Ethernet, om Finland telephones, cable TV, heat and indoorplumb- English, but ing - the rest of the state still lacks these re you kid- newfangled contraptions. Things are looking up, however: It is hole Henry Gov. Engler's goal to have electricity in support the every home by 2010. Soon, we in-staters actually cre- may even go home to hot water and electric ry Ford was stoves. naise sales- For now, though, I have to go feed the his life. The horses ... how else will I get to school? ass produc- - Brent McIntosh can be reached over e- )oiled mayo mail at mctosh@umich.edu. I F-+ JIM LASSER SHARP AS TOAST E TO 'MITE M4-LF S-ruPIES! // , t 1 NOTABLE QUOTABLE 'I never give them hell. I just tell the truth and they think it's hell.' - Harry Truman Gouging the poor Earned-income tax credit should be spared he 104th Congress continued its assault do not end with the welfare debate. Essen- on the nation's poor last Monday when tially raising taxes on America's poor while Senate Republicans made clear their inten- proposing a tax cut for everyone else smells tions to scale back tax breaks for low-income of misplaced priorities. It sends a message to families. These tax breaks - which even the public that if an individual is poor, that conservatives such as Ronald Reagan hailed person's hard work does not merit the same as the best anti-poverty program ever de- reward as that of other Americans. It is unfair vised -- should be preserved in their en- for the federal government to alter the tax law tirety. so that the rich get richer and the poor shoul- The earned-income tax credit program, or der more of the tax burden. Tax credits are EIC, provides federal income tax credits to not meant to vastly redistribute income. They individuals or families whose total salaries are simply designed to raise hard-working hover near or below the poverty line. The Americans' incomes above the poverty line. program was born under the Ford adminis- Republicans who contend that the pro- tration and has been on the books with bipar- gram is subject to waste and abuse have some tisan support for the past two decades. Given justification. Congressional research esti- Congress' current emphasis on encouraging mates that 24,000 families with incomes Welfare recipients back into the workplace, it above $50,000 a year got some benefits this makes little sense for the Senate to remove past year. However, it makes more sense to this incentive to work. How can a parent address and correct flaws in the administra- coming off welfare be expected to work 40 tion of the program than to for quick-fix cuts. hours a week if that person's wages cannot Substantially cutting programs designed to cover the costs of supporting his or her fam- assist the poor seems to be all the rage in ily? Congress. While rooting out wasteful and Social welfare is supposed to be about ineffective programs is to be commended, providing a safety net for individuals who not retooling or replacing them could eventu- Jave fallen on hard times. It should enhance ally leadto financially disadvantaged Ameri- opportunities for poor individuals to hold a cans and their children being denied equality job and get back on their feet. Tax credits are of opportunity. 'reward for hard work. If Congress is serious Congress should refocus its balanced-bud- about its support of workfare, it should prove geting tactics on someone its own size and this to the American people by sparing the address the waste and excessiveness of cor- JIC program. porate - not individual - tax subsides and The contradictions surrounding this cut welfare. How TO CONTACT THEM Lewis A. Morrissey, chief freedom of information officer Office of the Vice President for University Relations 2064 Fleming Administration Building 763-5800 Lew.Morrissey@um.cc.umich.edu brandrPa ntiti ranuPcts fnr doaments and other information under the state's WN RAC& AI KTIICITY 'rT r LETTERS Contract foes misguided To the Daily: In response to Hays Ellisen's letter ("Contract with America aims at more than social wel- fare," 9/19/95), lthink it's impor- tant that the students here at Uni- versity realize the facts about his organization, the Coalition Against the Contract "On" America, and the misconceptions about the Contract they have ex- pressed. First of all, much to the CACOAnuts dismay, the Con- tract has been already fulfilled. The Contract with America was the promise made by congres- sional Republicans that they would bring 10 important items to debate on the floor of the House of Representatives. This in itself is a major accomplishment given that many of these items could not even be brought up for debate. under the Democrats' reign in the House of Representatives. While Mr. Ellisen mentions that one item in the Contract would give a tax cut to those making $200,000 a year, he never mentions the majority of Ameri- cans who would also receive this tax credit for their children. This tax cut is designed to help all American families and the $500 tax credit goes the same for those making under $200,000 as it does for those making above that. Do we say that public services like water, the fire department and the police are unfair because they help the rich? Of course not, because these services are universal and help us all, just as the tax credit will help all American families. If the CACOAnuts wish to por- tra thaealcw.c ne t nnti fnm CACOAnuts? Well, looking at their membership roster one finds not only students, but University faculty (no big surprise there) and also people who have openly pro- fessed their proud communist ide- ology to me. So who are the true extremists? The Republicans are providing real change in Wash- ington that most American vot- ers supported last election, while the CACOAnuts consist of dis- gruntled liberals and communists who can't accept political reality. The only angry white male I've seen recently is President Clinton when someone mentions Rush Limbaugh. The Republicans aren't angry, we're ecstatic that we've been given the opportu- nity to really change our govern- ment. Change it we shall, to the chagrin of all those CACOAnuts. Mark Fletcher LSA senior State chairman, Michigan Federation of College Republicans Liberals miss real issues To the Daily: I am writing this in response to Hays Ellisen's and Marti Bombyk's letter on the Contract with America. It always amazes me that in any criticism of the Contract, liberals attack only one issue of the 10 in the Contract, that issue being the cuts in social spending, and demonize the en- tire contract based on that point. They never discuss any of the other nine issues, such as the bal- anced budget amendment or the law requiring Congress to follow the same laws as everyone else, to nam e n mi ith tatthen back and let the government spend my tax money on wasteful feel good programs designed to "em- power" self-described "victims of society"? Ellisen and Bombyk list "poor, children, elders, gays, les- bians andbisexuals", among other groups. Why must everyone be labeled and identify with some minority victim group? Whatever happened to just people, and in- dividual rights and responsibili- ties? In response to their call against capital gains tax cuts, I believe that taxes should be cut even more than what is proposed, in order to allow Americans to keep more of what they earn, so that each per- son can work toward financial independence on their own, in- stead of relying on redistribution of income and handouts from the government. Far too much ofmy income goes not to people who are genuinely in need, but to people who rip off the system in order to shirk their own responsi- bilities and obligations. (I worked in an inner-city supermarket for six years, so I've seen how wel- fare cheating works firsthand.) I hardly consider eliminating affirmative action in order to im- pose the same standards on ev- eryone "racist." We should not exchange one type of discrimina- tion for another, but should hold everyone to the same standards ofequality and opportunity, based on individual merit. Living in the shadow of past abuses will do nothing but continue to cause re- sentment and further poison rela- tionships between whites and minorities. Finally, I had to laugh when Ellisen and Bombyk wrote that Proposition 187 "discriminates against immigrants." It sure does. ILLEGAL ONES. Illegal aliens Everson lacks all the facts To the Daly: In his column last week ("In the Osborne court of law, guilty until proven innocent holds for Phillips," 9/13/95), Darren Everson criticized Nebraska foot- ball head coach Tom Osborne for his stance against Heisman can- didate Lawrence Philips. For those ofus familiar with Nebraska football and its head coach, it is appalling that he could question Osborne's "morals and ethics." Regardless of my opinion of Osborne's moral character, let's get down to the facts. After an alleged incident of domestic vio- lence between Philips and his former girlfriend, Philips was tossed off the team. However, this incident is far from being indicative of "erratic moral judg- ment". Philips has been involved in two other legal scuffles re- cently, and Osborne followed the set policy for the team. After the first incident, the player is re- ferred to the student athlete re- view committee which assesses the situation and decides upon action to take with the player. After the second incident, the player meets in a conference with Osborne. Osborne and player dis- cuss the incident and again some sort of action is taken. At this point, a player is warned that any further problems will result in their dismissal from the team. Although Everson cited the cases of Riley Washington, who is being charged with attempted second-degree murder, and Damon Benning, who was ar- rested in connection with an al- leged assault on his ex-girlfriend, as nronf of the inconsistencv of