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September 29, 1995 - Image 6

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The Michigan Daily, 1995-09-29

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6'- The Michigan Daily - Friday, September 29, 1995
Duderstadt's legacy: Accomplishments, mistakes

I t was the best of times, it was the worst
of times. Or was it neither?
When University President James J.
Duderstadt announced yesterday that he
will step down in June 1996, he put an
endpoint to a mixed bag of accomplish-
ntents and mistakes, triumphs and disas-
ters. His eight-year tenure as president
has been a time of commendable progress
in equal opportunity for all individuals on
campus. It has also been a time of assault
on student rights in the form of restrictive
policies and procedures. It has been a time
of great financial and technological boom
for the University -which has produced
mixed results in quality of students' lives.
When Duderstadt departs the presidency
next June, he will leave behind a Univer-
sity that is in many ways better off than
when he took office:- and a student body
whose environment has changed in other
ways for the worse.
AN ADVOCATE FOR EQUALITY
By far, Duderstadt's greatest accom-
plishments have been in the areas of equal-
ity for individuals and groups. Two weeks
after taking office in 1988, he unveiled the
Michigan Mandate, a broad plan for in-
creasing minority representation among
students and faculty. The Mandate led to
greater efforts in recruiting and retaining
minority students, as well as strong at-
tempts to bring in more professors of
color. Seven years after the Mandate's
implementation, minority representation
has risen from 15.4 percent of the student
body-the 1988 figure -to 24.2 percent
in the fall of 1994. Clearly, there is still a
long way to go, but Duderstadt's vision
has been an essential catalyst for progress.
That vision has also gone to work on
another area of the University population
-- gender equity. In April 1994,
Duderstadt announced another bold ini-
tiative: The Michigan Agenda for Women,
which pledged that "by the year 2000, the
University of Michigan will become the

leader among American universities in
promoting the success of women of di-
verse backgrounds as faculty, students
and staff." The Agenda's plans have re-
sulted, so far, in the creation of such
programs as the Faculty Women Career
Development Fund and the newly ap-
proved Institute for Research on Women
and Gender. Here, too, progress remains
to be made: The 18 months since the
Agenda's birth have seen a great many
task forces and committees, yet few tan-
gible changes. But Duderstadt's efforts
have set the stage for more improvement
in the future.
A third group to benefit from
Duderstadt's tenure is the University's
gay and lesbian population. In September
1993, at the president's urging, the Uni-
versity Board of Regents amended Bylaw
14.06 - the University's non-discrimi-
nation statement - to include sexual ori-
entation. Following the change, Univer-
sity policies were restructured to allow
registered same-sex domestic partnerships
to receive the same University benefits-
including housing, insurance and finan-
cial aid - as heterosexual couples do.
This change, passed over opposition from
several campus groups, was a crucial step
for equality and will be one of the best
components of Duderstadt's legacy.
HEAD OF THE AUTOCRACY
For all the positive aspects of
Duderstadt's tenure, his time in office has
also been a time of repression and exces-
sive control over students' lives. He has
overseen the creation of numerous poli-
cies designed to maintain order on cam-
pus that have restricted student freedoms.
The first sign of this control came early
in the president's term, when he depu-
tized officers in the University's Depart-
ment of Public Safety and Security (DPS)
and announced that he would like to cre-
ate a full campus police force. This ambi-
tion became reality in 1992, when the

EDITORIAL
regents transferred control of DPS from
the Washtenaw County Sheriffs Depart-
ment to their own board. The move came
despite the fact that a majority of the
student population opposed the change,
and took place amid massive student pro-
test - signaling a dangerous willingness
on Duderstadt's part to ignore student
concerns.
With Duderstadt's blessing, the Uni-
versity has also attempted to co-opt law
enforcement in its repeated attempts to
shut down Hash Bash, the annual April
event that brings hundreds of marijuana
smokers to the Diag. Year after year, the
University wasted time and money in
efforts to keep Hash Bash away - and
year after year it lost in court, ending up
looking both paternalistic and foolish.
Fortunately, this past April Duderstadt
came to his senses and allowed Hash Bash
to proceed with token opposition - a
precedent his successor should uphold.
Without a doubt, the worst thing to
come out of Duderstadt's term in office is
the Statement of Student Rights and Re-
sponsibilities. Implemented in January
1993, this code of non-academic conduct
includes provisions governing everything
from sexual harassment to murder - on
campus or within a 30-mile radius of the
Diag. While the code purports to uphold a
safe and student-friendly University com-
munity, in reality it puts accused students
through a kangaroo judicial process for
actions that - if handled at all -belong
only in the U.S. legal system. Duderstadt
has sat calmly by as the Division of Stu-
dent Affairs has made a mockery of the
code, its officers and the students unfortu-
nate enough to take the trip though Uni-
versity "court." The best thing to be said
about the code under Duderstadt's tenure
is that it has failed - thus causing the
regents to send the Division of Student
Affairs back to the drawing board to write

a new statement. One
can only hope that by
the time Duderstadt
leaves in June, there
will be a new code in
place better than the
one he saw crash and
burn.

Duderstadt

A LEADER BEYOND THE 'U'
As the leader of a university with a
reputation transcending Ann Arbor,
Duderstadt has crusaded relentlessly to
fashion a world-class research institution
on the banks of the Huron River - and
with much success. Under Duderstadt,
the University's research budget has
swelled to more than $400 million annu-
ally. A nuclear engineer by training,
Duderstadt sired the Office of Technol-
ogy Transfer, a future-driven division that
moves research from the stuffy confines
of academia to the marketplace. But
Duderstadt's technological vision has
sometimes blinded him to undergraduate
concerns. Students have complained of
large classes and a lack of personal atten-
tion - something new computers and an
excellent reputation for graduate research
cannot remedy. And Duderstadt, who
spends time on corporate boards and ad-
visory panels, has found less time to listen
to students than his predecessors. The
president has personally enriched himself
through his position on a corporate board
- raising concerns about where his pri-
orities really lie.
As the personification of the Univer-
sity of Michigan, Duderstadt has been an
effective figurehead - in some areas.
Duderstadt's aggressive Campaign for
Michigan, a fund-raising drive launched
in 1992, brought in more than $1 billion in
its first two years alone. Duderstadt and
his wife Anne have been visible symbols
of the University, regularly attending
Michigan football games and hosting din-

ner events. Duderstadt ends his speeches
with a rousing "Go Blue!" - even his :
retirement letter concluded with that
phrase.
But Duderstadt has been far less effec-
tive forging relationships outside the ivory
tower. He has largely avoided communi-
cation with Michigan legislators, who
exert some tug on the University's purse
strings. Leaving that job to subordinates
has cost the University dearly. Michigan
State President M. Peter McPherson nearly
managed to bag a significant funding in-
crease from the Legislature at the
University's expense. And where was
Duderstadt? He stepped into the fray at
the last minute, validating legislators'
concerns that the president only comes to
them with a tin cup. Locally, Duderstadt
has insulated himself from city affairs,
remaining inaccessible even to top city
officials. When he does speak oif local
issues, Duderstadt lectures officials to
appreciate the University's contributions
to Ann Arbor and quit complaining about
the drawbacks - a position that has won
the University few favors from the city.
U..
When Duderstadt told a stunned audi-
ence yesterday of his retirement, he said
the timing owed to the fact that most of his.
initiatives are nearly complete. He is only
partially correct. Programs such as the
Michigan Mandate and the Agenda for
Women will require constant vigilance if
their progress is to continue. Policies such
as the code have historically been tools
with which to bludgeon student freedoms-
- and an overly ambitious president has
the power to do just that. Duderstadt, for
all the progress during his eight-year tena
ure, often focused so intently on the bal-
ance sheet that he neglected student con-,
cerns. His legacy will be a University.
richer in finance and in diversity, yet-'
poorer in what matters most-the quality
of students' lives.

Ule L9 irbigmi 3uilg

JIM LASSER

SHARP

i . I

420 Maynard
Ann Arbor, MI 48109
Edited and managed by
students at the
University of Michigan

MICHAEL ROSENBERG
Editor in Chief
JULIE BECKER
JAMES M. NASH
Editorial Page Editors

NOTr MY KID~!

ME? A DRINKIN6
PRObLEM?

-1 1

51 ZE DOE
MATTEIR.

Unless 'otherwise noted, unsigned editorials reflect the opinion of a majority of the Daily's editorial board. All
other articles, letters, and cartoons do not necessarily reflect the opinion of The Michigan Daily.
Pass the buck
Students bear brunt of GOP6'tax' on schools

AS TOAST
5N T9
1 ,

NOTABLE QUOTABLE
'For many years I
have given speech
after speech on
the changes
occurring in the
world, in higher
education, and in
our University. In
this letter I con-
tinue that theme
of change. ... It is
my Intention to
retire from the
presidency.'
-University President
James J Duderstadt

n

I .

MY DIET i s REALL Y-°N1 NOT TOO 01L7
ro 8E YOUR
"PRESIDENT,'
D~o YOU NEED HEL'P
CRtossN, THE STREET?

O n Tuesday, crowds of college students
packed the Dirksen Senate Office
Building in Washington, D.C., demanding
that Congress reject the Republicans' pro-
posed cuts in student aid - and with good
reason. Two of the misguided initiatives
Congress is considering are plans to "tax"
colleges and universities for their use of
federal student aid and a plan to limit the
federal direct loan program. Both proposals
would create new costs for schools - costs
that would be passed along to students. Con-
gress should reject both of these ideas.
Part of the new plan passed by the Senate
Labor and Human Resources Committee this
week would slap a tax on universities that use
federal student aid. The
fee would be equal to .85
percent of the federal aid #A# #
going to students at the
institution. This would
depart significantly from
the usual policy of gov-
ernment helping to fund
public institutions of higher education: Un-
der this plan, Washington would be taking
money from colleges and universities.
To cover this new cost, schools would
either have to cut services or raise tuition.
The probable impact would be a combina-
tion of these two unsavory scenarios. The
current bill contains a clause that would,
ostensibly, ban universities from raising tu-

tration in 1993, this program allows the gov-
ernment to provide student loans directly,
instead of contracting out banks to do the
lending. This year, 40 percent of new student
loans in the United States were handled un-
der this program, and all of the University's
loans are direct. The program has won praise
from administrators in Ann Arbor and else-
where because it cuts down on paperwork
and, most important, saves schools money by
improving efficiency.
The Clinton administration has requested
that the program be fully implemented by
1998 - meaning that 100 percent of student
loans would be direct. Many Republicans,
however, have called for its elimination. The
current Senate bill calls
for direct loans to be
cpcapped at 20 percent of
all student loans, forcing
' half of all currently par-
ticipating schools out of
the program.
The proposals for cut-
ting the direct student loan program are an-
other example of Republican reductions that
would hurt students indirectly. By harming
colleges and universities, these proposals
would do two things: First, they would hurt
the students at the institutions by forcing
schools to choose between cuts in services
and higher tuition - thus becoming attacks
on students as well as their schools; second,

BRENT MclNrosH

MCINTOSH CLASSICS

Admisions tests: Watyou
were always afraid to ask

i i

he Law School Admissions Test World
Tour 1995 makes a stop in Ann Arbor
tomorrow, and I - fortunately or unfortu-
nately - will be among its worshipful fol-
lowers.
This is no small source of concern for me
and a few hundred others. True, the LSAT is
no MCAT: Aspiring shysters aren't required
to spend a full day being interrogated on the
vagaries of chemical interactions. In fact,
we may get to see the second half of
Michigan's clash with that traditional grid-
iron power, Miami (Ohio).
We should get to the game just as Brian
Griese throws his seventh touchdown pass
to make the score 73-13. The suspense is
almost unbearable.
Seriously though, what's the point of all
these admissions tests? Mental agility is not
something that manifests itself in under-
graduate classes, then disappears in law
school. It seems to me that the GRE, MCAT,
LSAT, GMAT and URFAT are a bit super-
fluous.
(Disclaimer: The University Law School

With that in mind, I thought it would be
entertaining to take a look at the admissions
tests for professions other than law, medi-
cine, business and academia.
For example, the U.S. Postal Service
application examination: Most of the test
deals with proper maintenance for pistols
and effective assault techniques. In this case,
jobs go to those with the lowest scores. That
was not always so, unfortunately.
Then there's the test given to potential
Michigan coaches. Overall, a rather ordi-
nary exam, mostly common sense stuff: stan-
dard operating procedure, coaching ethics,
player salary scales and the like.
Hidden, though, on page 17, is this sur-
prise query:
"84.) When arrested, what is the proper
response following the reading of your
Miranda rights?
"a.) 'If Jimmy and Ray can do it, why
can't 1?'
"b.) 'Yeah, yeah, I've heard it all before.
Just slap the cuffs on, Eddie.'
"c.) 'Oh, come on, since when was uri-

with this question:
"23.) Spell your name, but do NOT copy
it from the top of the page. That is cheating."
Back on campus, there is - believe it or
not -a Diag speaker admission test. Poten-
tial preachers must find the answer to this
difficult query:
"47.) As a Diag speaker, I despise (a)
Jews, (b) Republicans,(c) gays and lesbians,
(d) people with earrings or (e) anyone who is,
not like myself, especially all of the above,
and especiallygay, Jewish Republicans with
multiple piercings."
Those who haven't taken part in the
whole Greek-rush frenzy may not realize
this, but even that seemingly friendly ritual
requires an entrance exam. This is some-
what secret, so don't tell anyone. A copy of
the fraternity admission exam, removed by a
brave informer from a Drinka Kegga Brew
winter 1995 rushparty, includes the following:
"91.) Exceptional chick magnets include
(a) Jeep Cherokees, (b) 'studying' loudly in
the UGLi, while really scoping chicks, (c)
dogs on the Diag, (d) vanity plates on your

I...

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