New SAPAC Director Defends Qualifications by Tony Ghecea The hiring of Debra Cain as the new director of the University of Michigan's Sexual Assault Prevention and Aware- ness Center (SAP AC) has sparked con- siderable controversy on campus during the past few weeks. Concerns about Cain's qualifications as well as her ability to function as a leader in the University community have prompted the publica- tion of a number of critical articles and an editorial in the Michigan Daily, as well as the drafting of a resolution by the Michi- gan Student Assembly (MSA) express- ing the Assembly's intent to investigate the criticisms made of Cain' and the pro- cess by which she was selected. While MSA Rackham representative Colin Leach (who was unavailable for comment) has been the source of much of the criticism directed at Cain, the 27-3 margin by which MSA passed the resolu- tion concerning Cain indicates that ques- tions about her appointment are fairly widespread. Add to this the fact that little about the matter has actually been heard from Cain herself, and one sees how cloudy the issue has become. The initial criticism of Cain came in a September 10,1992, article in the Daily. According to Leach, "[Cain] has crisis intervention experience, but she is cer- tainly not a counselor." Insofar as SAP AC performs the service of counseling vic- tims of sexual such a charge, were it actually trUe, would indicate that . Cain will be either of or at least handicapped in dealing with SAP AC' s counseling recipients. Cain, who for the past 15 years has CMU Keeps Chippewa Name by Karen S. Brinkman Central Michigan University (CMU) trustees recently voted unanimously to retain the school'sso.:-year-old Chippewa nickname. The September 18 vote followed a recommendation by CMU President Leonard Plachta to retain the nickname. Quoting members of a committee formed to study the issue, he said, "There is nothing inherently racist or demeaning in using the name of an ethnic group as the nickname for a university - or for a river or a city." . II How 'Chippewa' is used in connec- tion with l CMU] is the issue here, not the very fact that the word is used at all," Plachta continued. Although the mem- bers of the committee whom he quoted favored retaining the name, the majority favored eliminating its use. Just prior to his recommendation, however, elders of the Saginaw Chippewa Tribe expressed their prefer- ence for the continued use of the name, according to Chippewa Chief Ron Fal- con. The controversy over the Chippewa name at CMU is part of a statewide re- evaluation of the use of Native American names and symbols which began several years ago. In 1988, the Michigan Civil Rights Commission issued a report on the use of Native . logos and mascots by universities and high schools. At the time of the report, nearly 130 schools, colleges and universities were using Native American nicknames or logos. Since then, only Eastern Michigan University (EMU) has completely elimi- nated the use of such names and sym- bols, according to Jacquie Brock of EMU Huron Restoration, Inc ., a group work- ing to re-instate the school's former nick- name. The report, Brock says, was inter- nally inconsistent: one part of the report called for an evaluation of logos to en- sure their historical accuracy, while an- other part of the report called for discon- tinued use of the names and logos alto- gether. "We look at what happened at CMU as a moral victory, a well-thought out, prudent decision," Brock said. The vote by CMU's trustees was the final stage in a series of events following the release of the report. A month after the report was issued, then-CMU Presi- dent Edward Jakubauskas appOinted a committee including representatives of the CMU community"and the Saginaw Chippewa Tribe to study the issue. In March 1989, the committee unani- mously recommended improvements in . Please See.I?age)fJ directed the activities of Help Against Violent Encounters Now (HAVEN) (Oak- land County's version of SAP AC) begged to differ. "The com- ments about counsel- ing were interesting to me," remarked Cain, "because it was quite the opposite. I come from a very strong counseling back- ''The heads of both .our sexual assault and domestic violence .. counseling programs [at HAVEN]," Cain anyway." Cain noted that she is "not averse to looking at moving to the Ann Arbor community. But that [Leach's criti- cism] is a valid con- cern, and I think it's one we can work around. And obvi- ously the people who hired me felt that we could work around that." Leach also main- tained that Cain lacks experience working both with students '!lld with people of dif- ferent ethnic back- explained, "were mas- grounds: "As a stu- ters-Ievel counselors "" dent, I wanted some- by profession, and SAPAC DireGtvr Debra Cain one who [sic] students they supervIsed ail the counselors under would find approachable. SAP AC mem- them. I supervised those two people, and bers and staff expressed discomfort with I was very involved with them in actu- how [Cain] related to them," he told the ally setting up the counseling programs, Daily. in supervising and doing group counsel- While Cain could cite no personal ing with them. Before HAVEN became incidents of friction between herself and so big, I actually did work in counseling other people on staff, she was able to services myself. So I feel I've had a sub- comment at length on Leach's accusa- stantial background in counseling." hons about the sort of people with wh0m Leach also criticized Cain's likely in- she could realistically work. "HAVEN ability to respond to on-campus crises. had a number of student interns and ''The center [SAP AC] is open from 9 to 5 student volunteers, so working with stu- weekdays. But at night and on the week- dents in various capacities was not un- ends, the director as well as the counsel- known to me. I have even supervised ors wear a beeper in case of an emer- student interns myself," she recalled. gency. Debra Cain lives 45 minutes away "One of the things that was exciting to in West Bloomfield and has no immedi- me about the job [as SAPAC's director] ate plans to move to this area," Leach argued. Cain's analysis of matters, however, is again very different. " At HAVEN we represented a whole county, so even with our first response team going to hospi- tals and such, often a worker lived 30 to 45 minutes away from the hospital where the survivor would actually be." In short, the quality of service rendered to victims was in no way diminished by a 45 minute response delay. As for the matter of Ann Arbor resi- dency, Cain continues, "I said in the in- terview and still feel that one of the things that my family may do in a year is move to Ann Arbor." One reason for her delay in making a residency decision, Cain said, is her ll-year-old son, who is currently in sixth grade. "Next year would be a bettQr time for him to switch schools than this year, wou14 have tq do that Please See Page 10 INSIDE Tooth U-M Science Buy American? Interview: Charles Sykes Racial Politics Federalist Paper Music 2 3 5 6 8 11 12 I I I I ! ! 1 _ _ _ ---" ___ _ ,_ ._ ,_ .... "" __ ..... _ ,, ___ .. "'_ ... __ .. ......... , _ _ ,, _____ w --.:.fj
Transcript
New SAPAC Director Defends Qualifications by Tony Ghecea
The hiring of Debra Cain as the new director of the University of Michigan's Sexual Assault Prevention and Awareness Center (SAP AC) has sparked considerable controversy on campus during the past few weeks. Concerns about Cain's qualifications as well as her ability to function as a leader in the University community have prompted the publication of a number of critical articles and an editorial in the Michigan Daily, as well as the drafting of a resolution by the Michigan Student Assembly (MSA) expressing the Assembly's intent to investigate the criticisms made of Cain' and the process by which she was selected.
While MSA Rackham representative Colin Leach (who was unavailable for comment) has been the source of much of
the criticism directed at Cain, the 27-3 margin by which MSA passed the resolution concerning Cain indicates that questions about her appointment are fairly widespread. Add to this the fact that little about the matter has actually been heard from Cain herself, and one sees how cloudy the issue has become.
The initial criticism of Cain came in a September 10,1992, article in the Daily. According to Leach, "[Cain] has crisis intervention experience, but she is certainly not a counselor." Insofar as SAP AC performs the service of counseling victims of sexual as~tt, such a charge, were it actually trUe, would indicate that
. Cain will be either in~able of or at least handicapped in dealing with SAP AC' s counseling recipients.
Cain, who for the past 15 years has
CMU Keeps Chippewa Name by Karen S. Brinkman
Central Michigan University (CMU) trustees recently voted unanimously to retain the school'sso.:-year-old Chippewa nickname.
The September 18 vote followed a recommendation by CMU President Leonard Plachta to retain the nickname. Quoting members of a committee formed to study the issue, he said, "There is nothing inherently racist or demeaning in using the name of an ethnic group as the nickname for a university - or for a river or a city." .
II How 'Chippewa' is used in connection with l CMU] is the issue here, not the very fact that the word is used at all," Plachta continued. Although the members of the committee whom he quoted favored retaining the name, the majority favored eliminating its use.
Just prior to his recommendation, however, elders of the Saginaw Chippewa Tribe expressed their preference for the continued use of the name, according to Chippewa Chief Ron Falcon.
The controversy over the Chippewa name at CMU is part of a statewide reevaluation of the use of Native American names and symbols which began several years ago. In 1988, the Michigan Civil Rights Commission issued a report on the use of Native ~.e!i~~ !'.i~~<l!!'~Sl .
logos and mascots by universities and high schools.
At the time of the report, nearly 130 schools, colleges and universities were using Native American nicknames or logos. Since then, only Eastern Michigan University (EMU) has completely eliminated the use of such names and symbols, according to Jacquie Brock of EMU Huron Restoration, Inc., a group working to re-instate the school's former nickname.
The report, Brock says, was internally inconsistent: one part of the report called for an evaluation of logos to ensure their historical accuracy, while another part of the report called for discontinued use of the names and logos altogether.
"We look at what happened at CMU as a moral victory, a well-thought out, prudent decision," Brock said.
The vote by CMU's trustees was the final stage in a series of events following the release of the report. A month after the report was issued, then-CMU President Edward Jakubauskas appOinted a committee including representatives of the CMU community "and the Saginaw Chippewa Tribe to study the issue.
In March 1989, the committee unanimously recommended improvements in
. ~ Please See.I?age)fJ
directed the activities of Help Against Violent Encounters Now (HAVEN) (Oakland County's version of SAP AC) begged to differ. "The comments about counseling were interesting to me," remarked Cain, "because it was quite the opposite. I come from a very strong counseling backgro~nd.
''The heads of both .our sexual assault and domestic violence
.. counseling programs [at HAVEN]," Cain
anyway." Cain noted that she is "not averse to looking at moving to the Ann Arbor community. But that [Leach's criti
cism] is a valid concern, and I think it's one we can work around. And obviously the people who hired me felt that we could work around that."
Leach also maintained that Cain lacks experience working both with students '!lld with people of different ethnic back-
explained, "were mas- grounds: "As a stu-ters-Ievel counselors "" dent, I wanted some-by profession, and SAPAC DireGtvr Debra Cain one who [sic] students they supervIsed ail the counselors under would find approachable. SAP AC mem-them. I supervised those two people, and bers and staff expressed discomfort with I was very involved with them in actu- how [Cain] related to them," he told the ally setting up the counseling programs, Daily. in supervising and doing group counsel- While Cain could cite no personal ing with them. Before HAVEN became incidents of friction between herself and so big, I actually did work in counseling other people on staff, she was able to services myself. So I feel I've had a sub- comment at length on Leach's accusa-stantial background in counseling." hons about the sort of people with wh0m
Leach also criticized Cain's likely in- she could realistically work. "HAVEN ability to respond to on-campus crises. had a number of student interns and ''The center [SAP AC] is open from 9 to 5 student volunteers, so working with stu-weekdays. But at night and on the week- dents in various capacities was not un-ends, the director as well as the counsel- known to me. I have even supervised ors wear a beeper in case of an emer- student interns myself," she recalled. gency. Debra Cain lives 45 minutes away "One of the things that was exciting to in West Bloomfield and has no immedi- me about the job [as SAPAC's director] ate plans to move to this area," Leach argued.
Cain's analysis of matters, however, is again very different. " At HAVEN we represented a whole county, so even with our first response team going to hospitals and such, often a worker lived 30 to 45 minutes away from the hospital where the survivor would actually be." In short, the quality of service rendered to victims was in no way diminished by a 45 minute response delay.
As for the matter of Ann Arbor residency, Cain continues, "I said in the interview and still feel that one of the things that my family may do in a year is move to Ann Arbor." One reason for her delay in making a residency decision, Cain said, is her ll-year-old son, who is currently in sixth grade. "Next year would be a bettQr time for him to switch schools than this year, sinc~ l).~ wou14 have tq do that
Please See Page 10
INSIDE
Serpen~s Tooth U-M Science Buy American? Interview: Charles Sykes Racial Politics Federalist Paper Music
Serpent's Tooth Edmund Reggie, the father-in-law of Sen. Ted "Beer/Pork Barrel Polka" Kennedy, was recently convicted of defrauding a savings and loan of $3.9 million. Considering that 1) he gave his daughter permission to marry Ted Kennedy, 2) his daughter married Ted Kennedy, 3) he is indirectly related to Ted Kennedy, and 4) his name is Ed, which is one letter away from Ted, this comes as no surprise.
During Sundays speech in Wixom, MI, President Bush referred to his opponent as "Government Clinton." Honest mistake. We understand the slip.
Top Ten Politically Correct Sites at the U-M: 10) Diversity of Michigan (University of Michigan); 9) Secular Hall (Angell Hall); 8) Severe Appearance Deficit library (UgLi); 7) Vertically Challenged Land Structure Auditorium (Hill Auditorium); 6) East Quad (East Quad); 5) UM Basegonad Field (U-M Baseball Field) 4) White Male Power Structure (Power Center); 3) Rackslaughteredpig School
of Graduate Maleperverties (Rackham School of Graduate Studies); 2) Deconstructed Literature, Feminist Science, & Postmodern Arts Building (literature, Science, & Arts Building); 1) South Gay Male Field (South Ferry Field).
Our comrades in the People's Republic of China now have 7-Eleven stores, in addition to McDonald's and Kentucky Fried Chicken. That's one Big Bite for communism, and one giant Big Gulp for capitalism!
In the September 14, 1992, issue of The N ati on, semi-socialist Alexander Cockburn had this to say about the abilities of Newsweek correspondent Joe Klein and New Yorker correspondent Sid Blumenthal to report objectively on the presidential campaign: "I suppose Klein -was irked ath~ving been identified in'" these pages as a Cljllton groupie, which is true enough. The only reason he has not entirely vanished up the Governor's backside is that Blumenthal is already occupying half the available space."
While on the subject of blatantly biased media coverage of the election, we present this from the "I ta-Ait { taw a puddy tat" file. According to a recent article in t1.,.: Detroit News, "ABC's executive producer is former press secretary to George McGovern; CBS's political editor was a pollster for Mondale-Ferraro in 1984; NBC's Washington bureau chief is a former aid to Mario Cuomo; and CNN's president is a former top aide to Lyndon Johnson." I did! I did! I did tee a puddy tat!
Bill Clinton recently stated that he has no plans to "soak the rich" because "[he] wouldn't mind being rich [him]self one d~." Poor William only made $35,UOO last year as the governor of Arkansas, while his wife pulled in a cool $223 grand, placing the Clintons in the top one percent of American households. With a net worth of $697,000, Bill and Hill rank in the top three percent of American families. Willie sure is slick; maybe if he thinks himself poor enough, he can avoid soak- ,., ing himself, too. .'
-----Roving Photographer ----Should students have a final say, by vote, in the approval of a
code of student rights and responsibilities?
Sheetal Patel, LSA freshman: Yes, because it is affecting the students. If students must abide by it, then they are the ones who should have the final say.
i •
'\: .
~~, ~~'i
James Madison, Founding Father: An administrative failure to respect the will of the students would be a piteous negation of the very principles of limited gov-
, ernment and con~nt of the governed.
by Mitch Rohde
~ , . " . ... ~:;. J,J
David Harris, LSA freshman: I don't think so, because students would get carried away. Things would get a little out of hand.
Candace Miles, Engineering sophomore: Definitely. I think the students have both a right and a responsibility to participate in decision making that governs Otlr actions on GlJllPus.
Craig Polin, ISA sophomore: o,viously.
Tim Knoff, School of Education senior: Yes. There should be a vote, because I'm not sure that the UniverSity or the students know the majority opinion, or even whether there i~ a majority opinion.
Random Oppressors Eddie Arner, Christopher Bair, Eric Berg, Michele Brogley, Christina Chiu, P.J. Danhoff, Dan DeMaggio, James E. Elek, Joe Epstein, Frank Grabowski, Nate Jamison, Ken Johnston, Eric Lepard, Aaron Lewicki, Mary the Cat, Michael McCarthy, Bud Mtmcher, Crusty Muncher, Tom Paska, Drew Peters, Renee Rudnicki, Paul Szpunar, Jen Shea, Ed Sloan, Andrea Tawil, TS Taylor, Perry Thompson, Corey Tobin, Jim Waldecker, Michelle Wietek, Matt Wilk, Tony Woodlief.
Elder Patriarchs Brian Jendryka John J. Miller
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September 30, 1992 THE MICHIGAN REVIEW 3
,'?:
Scientifically Speaking ... '\1' , $;lA'
A Human-Hoisted Helicopter? by Jamea Elek end Brian Schefke
Every Wednesday at 8 p.m., a group of University of Michigan students meet to further their quest to make history.
The members of the Human Powered HelkopterTeam have taken on the challenge to design and build a humanpowered helicopter. The team's goal is to develop a single-person craft that is capable of attaining a peak altitude of three meters.
develop a helicopter that would win the Igor Sikorski Award offered by the American Helicopter Society. It is this award, which has gone unclaimed for about 12 years, that sets the standards which the helicopter must attain. The award itself, which includes a $20,000 check, would subsidize only a small fraction of the materials and manpower expended on the project.
The only university Melissa Mercer, a
fifth-year LSA senior and the team's project manager, said that the team was convened to build the craft "because it's something that hao;n't been done before and when something hasn't been done before, somebody has to go do it."
.. ,
~..,
to even come close to winning the award has been California Polytechnic, whose machine flew for about seven seconds. Mercer believes that U-M can do better . "We have a very broad knowledge base, so we can ... look at a design .
,,6fl<1 talk about its pros", and cons without having-to go anywhere [for information] to do it or
stake. The U-M's team is racing against other universities around the country to
look anything else up. We have one [confidential insight] that no one else to our
Ulrich's carries name brand clothing from -Champion - Jansport - Gear - aeezll - Russell Athletic Along with many styles of Imprinted sportwear we carry Hats, Caps, Pens, Pennants, Mugs, Bumper Stickers. Rulers, History Books, Shoe!aces, Posters. Fishing Lures, Stationary.
Footballs, Basketballs and Much. Much Morel! If it has an 'M' on It, Ulrich's probably carries It!
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knowledge does. This is the critical point, the thing that we think is going to make us able to fly and them [unable to fly]."
The team, formed one year and eight months ago, has both a business and a technical division.
The business division makes contacts with suppliers and solicits the funds needed to build the helicopter. Feeling that a final design is needed before the team can ask for funds, the business division has only been raising interest in the helicopter endeavor; the feedback, however, has been positive thus far. The team is attempting to build ties with companies that deal in u1tra~light planes as well as large corporations which often philanthropically sponsor independent stientific research and development.
The technical division is currently working on the design stage of the helicopter. Characterizing the team's progress to date, Mercer said that the design process "is so iterative that we can't say whether we're 30 percent done
draWings of the helicopter's body. These diagrams were made possible by an RS6000 Engineering Workstation worth $1.25 million which IBM recently donated to the team. The design, which has recently been updated to include plans for the helicopter's drive train, is being developed one piece at a time.
"Only once in a lifetime does an opportunity like this come up where you're able to make history and have fun at the same time," said Mercer of her experience on the team.
Dav~<.i Zaret" the team's materials manager and' a junior in eng'ineering, added, "It's a lot more than just a design project. You learn how to work with
\ people and you learn the bureaucracy of business."
James Elek and Brian Schefke were last seen jumping otf the Dennison Building while flapping their arms wildly,
or 80 percent done." Students attending ~ . .,.. .... , last Friday's Festifall could see computet" "
" ~" \ Put an end to clouded thinkingget the straight dope.
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4 THE MICHIGAN REVIEW September 30, 1992
From Suite One: Editorial \ ..
l' :li1/'~'
Michigan Mandate Progress Report The University of Michigan recently released" A Four-Year Progress Report" on
the Michigan Mandate, the administration's plan to achieve racial diversity throughout the student body and faculty. In his introductory letter, U-M President James Duderstadt states, "Success will demand great effort and a considerable investment of resources." Duderstadt gravely informs us, ''The fact is that we are trying to overcome one of the most persistent and damaging flaws of human character: the need to define oneself by rejecting others." Therefore the Mandate's objectives are to recruit nonwhite faculty, students and staff while "improving the environment for diversity."
But is the best way to overcome the "flaw" of personal definition (if we are to call it that) to define people according to race through preferential treatment of scarce, though much sought-after minority and senior women faculty? Does the creation and support of special programs for minority students really help others to learn not to define themselves by rejecting others?
The U-~'s many special minority programs place an unnecessary emphasis on the identity of minorities as "the other," and encourage everyone involved to conceive of our community as composed of many small groups rather than simply a larger number of individuals whose racial, cultural, sexual and other group memberships are of no importance. In short, special programs do not help us to judge people by the content of their character, butrather by their membership in a certain group.
The Mandate will supposedly result in a utopic multiracial campus community that is also multicultural. In 1990-91, the administration established "the Council for a Multicultural University to monitor progress of recruitment ~retention efforts in all academic and non-academic units." The University also/created an "Associate Dean for Multicultural Affairs to promote multiculturalism and un9-erstanding among students." (The administration is actively purging the term "minority" from its lexicon in favor of the term "multicultural.")
To reach its increased minority faculty goal, the U-M implemented the Target of Opportunity Program. According to the report, "the fact that the program's funds are reallocated from the base budget of the entire University makes it increasingly difficult for Schools and Colleges to continue 'business as usual: Departments that don't compete for this funding will lose out." This program is regarded as a "recruitment highlight" in the Mandate's update.
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Another "recruitment highlight" is the 1/21st Century Program" in the Markley Residence Hall that seems to be another version of the Residential College, or at least one for an ethnically diverse crowd.with the additional requirement of out-of-class workshops. As one might expect, the description of this program in the progress report was extremely vague.
A curious pOint about the numbers used in the progress report is that the enrollment of minority students began climbing in 1984. The Mandate began in 1988, yet enrollment grew at the same constant rate. Furthermore, the percentage of black students did not reach the 1976 level again until 1990. The progress report proudly states that, "Twenty-five percent of the 1991 freshman class are students- of color"[emphasis addedL and then presents a breakdown of the numbers into Native American, Hispanic/Latino, and African American students. Oddly enough, although Asian Americans represent 46.8 percent of this figure, they are not included in these listings. When Asian students lost minority status is wholly unclear.
The Mandate's path to creating a diverse yet harmonious community at the University seems steep for all but the most radical administration-mongers. As Duderstadt explained, If America's universities cannot sit by and wait for others to bring social change. On the contrary, we have an obligation to lead and to provide mo4els for others to follow." How nice - socially redeeming social engineering.
The very idea of a society that is both multiracial and multicultural may be selfdefeating, as well. As Oxford professor John Gray wrote in the Natiomll Review, "lA]
' Society that is multiracial is likely to enjoy civil peace only if it is not at the same time -radically multicultural." This prescription for a peaceful society, where multiple races
need not (indeed, should not) imply multiple cultures is contradicted on campus by constant calls for group rights at the same time that many individuals across groups become more equal.
. ¥,,~~"
When administrators stop chanting th~' Duder Sutra of diversity, perhaps they will realize that human relations cannot be Mandated. Then, instead of regulating students and faculty to "overcome ... persistent and damaging flaws of human nature," they might consider appealing to "the better angels of our nature."
..~~t> m "'~VE 00e: OF ~ eeroi ~\TlCAL.\.."( CORt<6GT' \.l~AARle:'I;, IN-rne- COU~TR'(!
How Patriotic Is "Buy American" Slogan? by Paul Szpunar
"Buy American!" Whether couched in the language of all-out protectionism or merely sugar-coated with dubious allusions to "fair" trade, the ideas which this slogan represents have been blindly accepted by many politicians and American citizens, according to Dr. Harry Binswanger of the Ayn Rand Institute. In a lecture delivered to apprOximately 250 U-M students on September 22, entitled "Buy American is UnAmerican," Binswanger identified the underpinnings of this slogan and offered a defense of
premise of the ''Buy American" slogan as that of collectivism - the belief that individuals have neither rights nor identities outside of their groups. One must identify with and subordinate oneself to one's particular race, sex, economic class or, as is the case with protectionism, the particular country to which one belongs.
Binswanger noted that the premises underlying the "Buy American" slogan contain a "deep-seated animosity towards [foreigners]" which stems from the "tribal" mentality that collectivism fosters: What one's tribe does is auto
free trade on both ...------------------., matically right; what other tribes do differently is wrong and is therefore a potential threat to
economic and moral grounds.
Binswanger's economic defense of free trade was a fairly straightforward one, in the
Binswanger identified ... the "Buy American" slogan as ... collectiv-ism - the belief that individJlftls have neither rights nor idtiitities outside of their groups. ~"
vein of Robert .' _____________ -------'
~ ,amuelson, Milton Friedman, and .udwig von MiseS. Unfortunately, since
he l~; a philosopher, not an economist, Binswanger tended to oversimplify the <li6uments and issues involved in international trade. His economic arguments alone would probably not convince an economist who favored some form of protectionism over free trade. Those interested in the economic defense of free trade would be better advised to consult the more systematiied works of modern free trade theorists. \
Binswanger's strength as a philosopher, however, enabled his moral arguments for free trade - the most convincing and profound aspect of his lecture -to outweigh his oversimplification of international economics.
Binswanger identified the basic
one's own tribe. Collectivism regards men as brutes whose interests must conflict since everyone is presumed to be biased towards his own group. If there is no objective source of right and wrong, if right and wrong are simply matters of tribal custom, then there is no rational way to resolve conflicts and force becomes the only means available, Binswanger argued.
Contained within the collectivist premise of "Buy American" is a demand for self-sacrifice. One must not buy the best product available if it is produced by another tribe; rather, one must buy an inferior, more expensive product, because this product is made by one's own tribe. The rationale for doing so is to provide a particular job to a fellow tribe member, one he may not deserve. The individual .. .-.-.. ........................................ . , ,
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must subordinate himself to the collective interests of the tribe.
Binswanger offered an alternative to this collectivist premise, the source of the moral justification for free trade - indi
"Buy American" is in fact un-American. America was founded on individualism, which means capitalism and free trade, he maintained. If an American product is inferior to a foreign-made one, then
i those who buy vidualism. He defined individualism as the philosopher Ayn Rand defined it in The Virtue of Selfishness: "Individualism regards man -every man - as an
If an American product is inferior ... those who buy the ... product simply because it is made in America are being unpatriotic,.
the American product simply because it is made here are being unpatriotic,
eign entity who possesses an inalienable right to his own life, a right derived from hilnature as a rational being. individualism holds that a civilized society ... can
-. be achieved only on the basis of the rec... ognition of individual rights - and that
a group, as such, has no rights other than the individual rights of its members." Individualism also holds that one should buy the highest quality product available at a competitive price. Whether this'" product is made by American, Japanese, or German workers is inconsequential, provided that the product represents the highest value available, said Binswanger.
In this respect, stated Binswanger,
Binswanger was particularly critical of conservative support of protectionism. While conservatives oppose the collectivist ideals held by the Left, such as communism, they fail to realize the collectivist premises inherent within protectionism. Thus, while condemning communism, Ronald Reagan and George Bush have been hypocrites in supporting varf(fus protectionist policies, paying only lip service to the ideal of free trade, according to Binswanger.
Paul Szpunar is junior in history and philosophy and a staff writer for the Review.
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Join us Sundays, 7pm 3rd floor of the Michigan League.
Personal Responsibility vs. Victim Politics On September 26,1992, Adam DeVore of the Review interviewed Charles J. Sykes, the author of Profscam: Professors lind the Demise of Higher Education, The Hollow Men: Politics and Corruption in Higher Education, and most recently, A Nation of Victims: The Decay of th'e American Character. Sykes is a senior fellow at the Wisconsin Policy Research Institute and the editor of WI: Wisconsin Interest.
REVIEW: How would you describe the origins of the "therapeutic culture" and "politics of victimization" that you discuss in A Nation of Victims?
SYKES: Part of it is the shift in both the vocabulary and our other notions of personal responsibility, Over the last century, we have seen a shift from a paradigm of personal responsibility' to putting the blame on society. At the bottom of that has been the shift toward therapeutic culture. Instead of dealing in terms of traditional justice or ethics, society has become much more comfortable with speaking about behavior in meqical terms. It's easier for modem Americans to describe someone as "sick" rather than "bad" or "evil." The growth of the therapeutic industry has redefined basic human problems into medical terms and has expanded their scope to cover virtually all of human Hfe. Having medicalized normal human Pfoblems, psychologists, sociologists, and would-be social reformists of virtually every stripe can claim to have the cures for them at hand. , Over the last thirty years or so, probably the most dramarlc growth industry in America has been therapy arising from the proliferation of various new diseases, complexes and forms of dysfunction. With the rise of things like co-dependency, various definitions have appeared which allow nearly everyone to claim to be a victim of some kind of dysfunction. There are people like John Bradshaw who say that more than 90 percent of all families are dysfunctional. In a therapeutic culture, someone who gambles away all of his family's earnings is not simply irresponsible or greedy; he now can daim to be a victim of compulsive gambling syndrome. Someone who is so irresponsible as not to show up at work can now claim to be a victim of chronic lateness syndrome.
The key to this, of course, is redefining behavior as disease. It's easy to say that someone who drinks too much is an alcoholic and has a disease. This became the model for other forms of behavior to
be defined as disease. Virtually any behavior you can think of today - stealing,. over-work, incompetence, procrastination, child abuse, gambling, shopping -can now be defined in medical terms. People can say, "Hey, it's not my fault! I'm just sick!" And if you're sick, then obviously you can't be held personally responsible for your c • • .
behavior. =~ .. 3 ..... ;"! REVIEW: You attack egoism several times, but you also call for a renewed sense of personal responsibility to
- overcome therapeutic socie~.~ How would/ you reconcile an attac~" on egoism with a call for personal responsibili ty?
. . ?" ~.
SYKES: I don't think that there's any conflict. In fact, that used to be the essence of the "middle-class ethos," the equilibrium that we used to have in this society between personal freedom and personal responsibility. The opposite of a culture that emphasizes character and personal responsibility is a culture that emphasizes purely selfish motives, where the center of the Universe is the Imperial Self who has no restraint, no obligations. I don't think that there's a conflict behveen saying that people should exercise personal responsibility and ought to show character, if character is defined as understanding one's responsibilities to others and the need to exercise honesty, probity and self-restraint. Those tend to contrast with our modem culture of infinite self-gratification and the sense that the needs of the self come before those of anyone else. Consider men who father children whom they feel no obligation to care for. They put their own selfish needs first but exercise no responsibility.
REVIEW: How would you say that all of this has come to exert influence on the Academe?
SYKES: Let me give the broad overview of where I think this comes from. There are several strains going on in American society: first, there's the shift of responsibility from the person to society; second, we have seen a shift from mxal categories for defining people to medical cat-
egories, or redefining behavior as dis- SYKES: Oh, absolutely. The standard is ease and asserting that each of us are frail incndibly shifting. You no longer define psychic growths easily blighted and eas- what's permissible in terms of the rights ily hurt. Political terminology has thus that people have or in terms of justice been redefined not in terms of justice but that anybody would understand. If in terms of therapeutic categories. Third, speech is only as free as the most ag-
there is the rights grieved or sensitive group on campus revolution - the allows it to be, that means that the stan-idea that if rights dards will always be relative. Because are a good thing, groups can define themselves as victims then lots of rights and then claim that their feelings are must be an even hurt, we get a "victims olympics" that better thing and will determine what is permissible and that we therefore what is not permiSSible. The only group ought to multiply on campus that cannot apparently claim the number of that their feelings are hurt are conser va-rights infinitely. tive students or students with traditional Fourth, the trend religiOUS beliefs, who are often redefined in our society is to as therapeutically dangerous elements give out power on campus. and privilege to specific groups, REVIEW: Looking at this from the out-specifically in rec- side, it might alhppear to be based on ognition of their good intentions - the desire to be sen-status as victims. sitive and a good participant;n the com-
When you start saying that certain en;. ,~. -tilUcity. Aside from thofe incentives, titlements go to victimized groups, that do you think that there ar, ~ other forces creates an incentive for people to be vic- at work? tims and it is also an incentive for the number of groups of self-proclaimed victims to proliferate. All of these things, I think, have come to a head on university campuses.
Political correctness can't be understood as merely a political phenomenon, or simply rehashed Marxism, because it is so much broader. At least under Marxism you had to be a member of a working class to be oppressed. Today, on a university campus, all you need to be oppressed is a willingness to be aggrieved. The politics of sensitivity rely on, and often use, the language of traditional leftwing politics, but in essence they also use the techniques and the assumptions of the therapeutic culture. As universities impose gag rules and require sensitivity training courses, they're shifting the paradigm from the Socratic dialogue, wherein ideas were meant to be debated and discussed, to something that looks like a therapeutic workshop, wherein the goal is not to discuss ideas or air differences but to cure people of unacceptable attitudes and ideas. That's fundamentally different and more confining, for it enables critics to dismiss whole categories of thought as forms of psychologically harmful phenomena unworthy of dis-cussion.
REVIEW: It seems as though that modus operandi would easily give way to an insidious sort of relativism.
SYKES: It's crucial to dCKnowledge that from the outside, those people who say that they are trying to make universities more sensitive have a very strong hand, because we all want to be sensitive. Sensitivity and compassion are marks of a civilized society and those are certainly legitimate goals. But it's important to see that those terms have been distorted in order to impose draconian limits on free speech on campus. In fact, sensitivity has become the banner under which some of the most brutal brow-beating takes place on campus. In part, it reflects the inteIIectuallaziness that you often see in higher education, where the demand that people be sensitive and the allegation that some · are insensitive has sometimes taken the place of genuine political discussion. Rather than having to discuss with the Michigan Review, for example, the merits of its position on affirmative action, it's much easier to label it as insensitive and therefore somehow beyond the pale.
REVIEW: Might such an effort to focus on groups of people as groups of people impede our ability to see their constituents' common humanity?
SYKES: One of the consequences of the rise of victim politics is the "Lebanonization" of American society. We no longer focus on our common hu-
man heritage but begin to see one another only as members of various groups that define themselves by their victim status. So it's inherently divisive. But it also has a troubling impact on the individuals themselves. If they come to think of themselves primarily ·in terms of their victim status, that ultimately will have a negative effect. It won't be helpful in their efforts to develop self-esteem, find a common ground with fellow citizens, or work out their problems. Shelby Steele has talked about this quite eloquently: in the short run, ironically, it may seem great to have all the power and privileges that come from being a victim, but ultimately it destroys the victim's power.
REVIEW; You noted earlier that one cannot explain P.c. solely as a relic of Marxism, yet it certainly maintains a Marxist air. Politics of identity could be described as an application of Marxism to groups rather than classes.
SYKES: That's right. You take the Marxist insight that the world is divided into oppressed and oppressors and then you basically say, "Look, you can all be oppressed. Everyone can be oppressed. Women can be oppressed, minorities can be oppressed, people allergic to perfume can be oppressed, the fat can be oppressed, people who gamble can be oppressed" - before you know it, you have a society in which many groups feel that they are victims. Not very many students at Harvard or the University of Michigan can claim that they're economically or SOCially oppressed, as they're all in a privileged environment; they cem't claim that they're oppressed becaus~ they're discriminated against, because they've been admitted to an elite university; they can't claim that they're oppressed because they're not allowed to study certain things, either. So what they claim is that they are psychologically oppressed, that they suffer feelings of exclusion or loss of esteem. The therapeutic culture makes all of us potentially victims of psychological frailty; anyone can be converted into a frail creature who is easily hurt by an uncongenial gesture, facial expression, or word. It means that minority students can constantly point to perceived slights (that may be invisible to anyone else) as evidence of victimization. What constitutes fair behavior or a just allocation of resourceS when the victim groups are basically allowed to define their status by their feelings?
REVIEW: Some would say that such an approach simply "blames the victim" because it fails to account for their unique perceptions of subtle oppresS1On.
THE MICHIGAN REVIEW
SYKES: The charge that one is "blaming the victim" has long been a rhetorical tool used to fend off attempts even to hint that self-proclaimed victims might have some personal responSibility for their plight. Unfortunately, if you accept the notion that only victims can understand their pain, then you're also denying the ability of members of victim groups to communicate to people who are not victims. It threatens to seal us all into separate prison cells where we can't understand one another. That's the important thing to remember. We also have to note the patronizing, paternalistic attitude that is sometimes reflected in that point of view, which is that white male students can take being abused, being kidded, and going to a strange and hostile environment, but certain victim groups, including minority students, are painted as incapable of handling that and seen as fragile and unable to adapt. That hardly reflects the sort of respect that many minority students deserve. It's one ~hing to link rights to individuals' ~tafu"s as citizens or people who ought to be respected as individuals. It's a very different thing to create elaborate rights based on perceived disabilities and weaknesses.
REVIEW: In your book you talk about the riots of the 1960s in the context of blaming the victims. The heralds of therapeutic culture were eager to blame society and exonerate the rioters. How do you connect that, if at all, to the recent Los Angeles riots?
SYKES: It is fascinating how quickly people will come forward with excuses and explanations for behavior that is selfdestructive and criminal when you're dealing with victim groups. People will defend and explain the behavior of victim groups that they would never tolerate in their own community or family. So I think that's part of it - that paternalism I was describing and the patronizing tone where compassion blends into contempt and the ability to say, "Look, being a victim means never being responsible. If you're a victim, we need to suspend normal standards of civility. We need to suspend normal standards of morality because we can't expect you to behave like other people."
These are the same people who would say that to expect the poor to stay married and raise their children is blaming the victim. If you say that the poor ought to be encouraged to work, rather than be dependent, then you're blaming the victim. This mentality sends a devastating message to the inner city because it says that we know we want you to work and stay together with your family and your children to go to school, but if you
don't - if you do desert your children, if you do drop out of school, if you refuse to work, and if you engage in criminal activity - we'll understand, because we know that we can't really expect anything better of you because you're a victim. I think that that fundamentally undermines the ability of poor communities to pull themselves together and to impose the kind of values that they need to survive. These sorts of attitudes result in tearing up the moral contract that used to place a stigma on illegitimacy, criminal activity, and people who refused to work. We have become so understanding and so compassionate that by regarding people in the inner cities as victims we dehumanize them.
REVIEW: So more and more people are presumed to be victims. Do you think that that speaks to a new racism that's emerging, or a not "racism"".
SYKES: No, I think that it's fundamentally racist to say that a group in society needs to be regarded as permanent victims who do not have the ability to compete or perform at a certain level. That is one of the tragic consequences of compassion politics. Once you define a group as victimized, you're basically saying that they're always going to be a victim, and you basically begin to think of them as incapable of competing onit level playing field and abiding by the same rules as others. One of the things that people are beginning to recognize now is that the black community in particular is far more conservative than many believed. There are middle class blacks and intact black families doing better economically, but they also understand the need to maintain solid families, get education and fight back against crime. And they know that their efforts are often undermined by the allegedly compassionate explainers who will find ways to justify failures.
Here in Milwaukee, we have a black superintendent of schools who wanted to impose a very tough discipline policy on our schools. A black member of the school board said that he opposed this because it was unfair to expect black students to abide by white middle class values by requiring them to obey the same behavior policy as whites. He thought that there should be separate disciplinary policies for black and white students. The people who were most outraged by that were black parents. They did not want the message going out that because they were black, they were somehow different and couldn't be expected to behave. That's where I think that there's an intersection between the compassion of victim politics and a paternalism that borders on racism.
7
One point that is very important here is that although victim politics is most obvious in dealing with the inner-city, these politics reflect a larger societal flight from personal responsibility. Members of the white middle class are just as eager to find a therapist who'll say that they're sick, or a lawyer who will say that their plight is not their fault. This is a societywide problem.
REVIEW: What do you think we should do to cure this plague of victimization and therapeutic culture, aside from reinvigurating the concept of personal responsibility? Are there other solutions, such as a religious or "values" renaissance?
SYKES: I would"say a values renaissance. Clearly I think that one of the real tragedies of the therapeutic culture is that it ignores the element of the sacred in human life. It reduces us to economic and psychological automatons - that's the reductionism that I oppose. I would probably agree with Harvard psychiatrist RoberlColes in saying that we need to restore a recognition that human beings are not ~undles of complexes or
the sunr~f their economic and social experiences, but that they also have a spiritual dimension. That)s not my solu-
. tion to this; it's merely a recognition that we need to think of ourselves in somewhat more human ways.
It dovetails, however, with my call for more common sense. I think that most people can distinguish between bad luck and victimization. They understand the difference between a bungled past and an act of rape. They know what is required of them as people, they know that they have certain obligations, and I think that getting back to that would help a great deal. We need to return to the concept of civitas, that we do have social obligations to one another and that we ought to have some compassion - not the compassion that judges programs on how good they make us feel, but on the basis of whether they work. I don't claim that I have any solutions, but I think that the number one thing would be a moratorium on blame. We must stop looking for other people to blame for our problems and return to common sense in recognizing who is a victim and who is not a victim.
REVIEW: If you had to recommend a book other than your own, what would it be?
SYKES: Aristotle's Ethics. Once you've been exposed to something like that, the rest of this seems very shallow.
8 THE MICHIGAN REVIEW. September 30,1992
Book Review \ :',
,,,.,,,,,
Racial Classification Impedes Progress The RllClllllutlon of America Yehudi O. Webster St Martin'. Press Hardcover, $22.95, 310 pgs.
cial theory was inspired by a naturalistic approach to social relations. The classification of persons followed patterns established by natural scientists. It was part of a biological explanation of regional
by Eddie Arner disparities in economic development and Heightened racial awareness and its civilizations," writes Webster.
accompanying interracial tensions are Western European culture was characteristic facets of the contemporary uncritically asserted to be at the pinnacle debate over racial politics. We are del- of a jingoistically conceived cultural hi-uged on an almost daily basis with statis- erarchy and thus the standard against tics and facts which attempt to prove that which all other civilizations were to be racial differences are a significant ob- judged. Unfortunately, the idea of a bio-stade to the goals of equal rights and logical hierarchy of the races was used to equal opportunity. justify slavery in America. "By the late
The government nineteenth century, spends billions annually Herbert Spencer's writings on race-related studies and the 'science' of eugev-and programs aimed at ics had created an influen-eradicating racism and tial tradition of biological levelling the playing field determinism." Then in for all ethnic groups. From 1890, the U.S. CensTJs Bu-the ou tset of T he reau began classifying citi-Racialization of America, zens by race. At this time, Yehudi Webster argues American Indians were be-that this money is being ing pushed toward extinc-squandered, because the tion and Jim Crow laws general perception of the were being enacted. problem is flawed, and ef- ,' ~ c , v In this way the natu-forts to overcome the c\, I . 1 ' lO' V1 T J j ralist tradition of Carl von problem are mistaken. JtnU:{11 ", . J {reoote' Linnaeus and Arthur de
Webster, a professor Gobineau, which began as of Pan-African studies at a tool for scientific research, California State University at Los Ange- was being perverted by bigots more in-les, challenges the notion that race and terested in spreading the gospel of racial racism art the real problems plaguing superiority than testing the validity of America. ror Webster, a flawed system biological determinism. of racial classification deserves the blame The liberationist school was founded for many of the "racial" problems which in the early twentieth century when Frank America currently faces. Boas rejected biological determinism and
In the United States, the "race issue" put forth the idea that the success of a is a catch-all phrase which encompasses race was to be judged by the extent to racism, ethnicity, cultural identity, racial which it flourishes in its (natural) envi-policies, and racial classification, among rorunent. Boas' school of cultural anthro-others. A myriad of racial studies use pology spawned the liberationist school these broad terms in an extremely hap- which gained ascendancy during the civil hazard, undefined manner in conduct- rights movement of the 1960s. There are ing research. This lack of regard for well- numerous factions within this school, defined terminology, logical methodol- with prominent writers and leaders rep-ogy and the scientific method is a major resenting each. This school spans the focus of Webster's criticism. political spectrum and includes people
Webster analyzes current racial such as Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm theory and its intellectual and social his- X, Shelby Steele, Walter Williams, Marcus tory, and attempts to answer the intrigu- Garvey, and Cheikh Anta Diop. ing question of how the lunacy of racial- Boas' ideas were the starting point ism ever came to be such an integral part for W.E.B. Du Bois' and Marcus Garvey's of the American psyche. He criticizes writings as well as the "black liberation both naturalist and liberationist schools movement." The more contemporary of racial theory for contributing to the liberationist thesis is that "white society current state of race relations. is shot through with racism, racial dis-
The naturalist school originated as a crimination, and racial inequalities." scholarly attempt to determine why the Scores of studies and pages of statistics achievements of different cultures vary are used to prove that "institutionalized so greatly. ''The development of th~ ~~- racism': pex;vad~ every ~or ?f human
, . I - '. - • . ~ .
existence. The solutions to the problem of racism advanced by liberationist writers vary enormously.
The liberationist theory has recently been adopted by the leftist academic proponents of multiculturalism. Their argument that all cultures have worthwhile contributions to make to humanity, and that they therefore deserve equal study, is highly laudable. Unfortunately, instead of advocating the objective study of all cultures, contemporary proponents of multiculturalism cynically seek to invert the cultural hierarchy which they simultaneously accuse Eurocentrism of creating. Their heavy-handed approach to incorporating diversity into this nation's universities has spawned resentment and increased racial tensions on campuses.
This result is the same as the one which Webster finds to be caused by racial theories in general society. The emphasis placed on racial differences by both schools further divides American society along racial and ethnic liI}.~"" These divisions poison race relations, which in tum spawns more race-based studies. This self-perpetuating cycle is sanctioned by politicians of all stripes who exploit racial differences and utilize race-baiting as a campaign issue.
Webster writes that "exposure to naturalist and liberationist writings contribute much to the proliferation of racial sentiments and the development of racial identities in the general population. Indeed, naturalist and liberationist arguments are aimed precisely at generating racial divisions and organizations." He goes on to say that claims of racial victimization and counterclaims of racial innocence, along with remedial suggestions foster an exaggerated or paranoid racial consciousness; unfortunately, the resulting situation is expected to be alleviated through more of the same racial analyses and remedies.
Webster's line of argument contains little that is novel, but his remedy is almost revolutionary in its implications: he recommends "the abandoning of racial classification." It has been suggested that racial classifications be dropped from college applications. To Webster, however, this would merely be a first step in eliminating all types of racial classjfications. Under Webster's plan, citizens would no longer be grouped into the nominally homogeneous racial groups which, he argues, foster animosity and separatism.
Webster justifies this shift in policy by systematically exposing racial classification as a fallacy. The fact that even
, 1
experts are unable to agree on how many races there are in society, if they exist at all, is a powerful argument in itself. Throughout the years, the races have become so intermixed that it is difficult to place most people in anyone category. Within each group are massive numbers of different people who cannot be simply categOrized as "white people" or "black people."
In addition, the various definitions of race make a coherent discussion of the subject impossible. Race can be defined as a set of similar anatomical characteristics, a shared culture, an ethnic group, or a mixture of these factors and others.
The views of a black Baptist from rural Georgia and a black homosexual from New York City are likely to be dissimilar, even oppositional, yet most racial studies would lump them together as sharing in the ''black experience."
Through his analysis, Webster concludes that the concept of people being placed into homogeneous groups simply on the basis of race, ethnicity, culture, or a mix of the three is ridiculous after even a cursory examination of the facts.
Webster argues that his solution of removing racial classifications will eliminate the discourse which underlies racial divisiveness. This, however, is a rather simplistic solution which will not work on its own. Centuries of racially divisive history and wrong-headed policies are perpetually working against it. Webster's idealist solution has appeal as a principle, but hypersensitivity to racial/ cultural referents is firmly and irrationally embedded in our collective awareness; they will be nearly impossible to eradicate completely.
In addition, the attempt to de--emphasize racial and cultural identities could degenerate into a totalitarian attempt to create a uniform society. This is not compatible with principles of individualism and liberty. The contributions of separate cultures would surely be lost in such a process of homogenization.
Webster's solution fails to address these concerns. It attacks the theoretical basis of the problem, but does nothing about the manifestations of it in society. A more realistic solution lies in a return to a strong commitment to equal rights for all people, a focus on individual empowerment, and a truly objective evaluation of people's merits and capabilities.
Eddie Arner is a senior in political science and English and a staff writer for the Review.
What has Decayed the American Character? at/on of VIctims: The Decay of the erican Character Irles J. Sykes '-'artin's Press th, $22.95, 289 pgs.
bogus claims of victimization depletes our patience and sympathy for genuine victims.
The first third of Sykes' book diagnoses the politics of sensitivity that underlie our growing acceptance of
Adam DeVore victimhood. As people have come to Charles Sykes' latest effort, A Na- speak of ordinary annoyances and ob-i of Victims, is dense with evidence of stades in life as victimizing encounters Itural paradigm shift away from our with oppression or psychologically dis-titional concepts of personal respon- turbing traumas, new groups of self-lity toward an obsession with sensi- proclaimed victims have fonned to capi-yand victimhood , talize on the benefits that our guilt-rid-Whether discussing ~ den, hypersensitive society "Big Nanny" atmo- is eager to confer on them, ere which has de- Sykes offers a detailed Ided upon many urU- A A 11 ~ N account of the rise of thera-
;ities, the eruption of OF V I [r I ~' ~ peutic culture since the suits filed by aspirants } 1950s - a decade charac-egally certified victim . , terized paradoxically by us, the expansive lists THE DECAY prosperity and anxiety. The lisorders and disabili- OF THE anxiety, Sykes maintains, that facilitate people's AHERICAM resulted!tpJl\ a combina-ns to victimhood, or the CHARACTER tion of .rIsing expectations, mately deleterious ef- ,,;~ naIve self-absorption, and s of blaming society for LHABll~ 1 ~m a Widespread, overwhelm-'s woes rather than tak- ""'___ ing desire to attain perfect personal responsibility happiness, Sykes tracks them, Sykes forcefully demonstrates America's evolution toward therapeutic t our country is suffering from an society through the Civil Rights Move-:?SS, rather than a deficiency, of regu- ment, recalling that by the late 1960s: )n and sensitivity. In place of appeals to justice and American Sykes accurately portrays modem fair play, the move~ent n~w pla~ed upo~ ,erican culture as "therapeutic" in that emoti?05 of fear, PItJ:' g~llt, and Ideologl-is increasingly witnessed the replace- ~a1Iy tinged "co~paSSion, m,stead of equal-t f t d ' t' al ti f al Ity of opportunity, the rhetoric of the move-
il 0 ra 1 Ion no ons 0 person t d ded ' ti' 'b'l' d th I __ A t men now eman repara 005, >onsl 1 Ity an e anguage u~ 0 ASk t 't ' d'ff' It t t II 'b 't 'th d ' al . d s y es no es, 1 IS 1 lCU 0 e cn e 1 WI me IC Jargon an a ·ti al I' t th t \ 't I whether psychology began to pollute ICC Ima e a perml s near y ev- , , , ,
t all th I 'ct ' f ' politIcs or pohtics psychology, although ~ne 0 c emse ves Vl Ims 0 or- · ,
t ' ty "[M}' b h . he suggests that the process was reopro-15 ance or soae, IS e aVlor can oed f' d d' ", h t' cal, Black-power advocates, Sykes ex-, e me as Isease m t erapeu IC I' b t d ' t 11 t al h 't M paIns, egan 0 raw on 10 e ec u rure, e wn es.. oreover: founts such as the French writer Albert e ethos of Victimization has an endless M ' h ded th M 't 'd )acity not only for exculpating one's self emnu, w ~ exp~ e at'XlS I , ea m blame, washing away responsibility of class confhct to mdude the oppresslOn a torrent of explanation - racism, sex- of "blacks, Jews, colonials, French Cana-1, rotten parents, addiction pnd illness - dians .. , women, and domestic servants" t also for projecting guilt onto others, '" in the historical dialectic. Memmi's dec-place of evil, therapeutic society substi- laration that "Everyone, or nearly every-ed "illness"; in place of consequence, it one is an unconscious racist" set the tone ~es therapy and ~nder~tanding ... , for fue accusatory side of the politics of Sykes makes It plam that thIS cui- victimization.
al tra?Sformation has had c!~monstra- Sykes expresses the insidious allure d~t~men~al effec~s ?n ,~ety by Ie- of therapeutic mentality with preciSion mtzmg claIms of Vl~ation that 50 in a chapter entitled" Are We All Sick?": u:s ago would more hkely have been The modern American culture of the sup-'n as signs of hypersensitivity if not port group grew out of a single epiphany: rchosis. Not only does the "contagion Once the language of disease and addiction lew illnesses and disabilities ... [have] could be applied to behavior rather than :ial and economic consequences," merely to biologic,al disorders, alm~st a~y ough its effect on our society's alloca- aspect of human life could be redefined m n of resources, but the posturing of • medl~al terms, .. , More I,mportant, how-f oclaimed' dims ultimat ly b ck- ever, IS the power of the disease analogy to -pr . VI , e a change social norms and attitudes. Almost i$ ~y er~mg thel~ self~eem and by definition, disease is caused by agents or tenng feelL'lgs of altenation and help- forces largely beyond the control of an indi-sness. Worse yet, the proliferation of vjdual...
To the extent that people can medicalize routine urges or difficulties, they may shirk virtually all personal responsibility for their actions,
The remainder of Sykes' explanation of the evolution of victim politics - from his claim that the protestors of the 1960s were implementing their parents' ideals, not rebelling against them, to his description of how self-proclaimed victims came to hold a moral high-ground beyond question or reproach - is an intriguing lesson in modern (anti-)intellectual history, The most shocking and compelling evidence that Sykes marshals for his thesis, however, comes as a deluge of anecdotes peppered throughout the text which demonstrate the level of absurdity to which contemporary claims of victimization have sunk. It is in these exercis~ that Sykes is at his best and the book at its most jarring. ~Consider the Virginia special-edu
ciMion teacher who filed a suit after failing eight times to pass" a standardized national test for teachers that measured 'listening, reading and writing, and tests the candidates' ability to understand and use the elements of written or spoken language.'" She argued, Sykes explains, that the test" did not accommodate her slowness in understanding written and spoken information."
Even more disturbing is a Miami court's ruling "that a woman would be paid forty thousand dollars in worker's compensation benefits after she complained that she was so afraid of blacks that she was unable to work in an integrated office."
The politics of sensitivity have also damaged public education: Attributing the continuing failure of urban education to lingering racism, critics have attacked efforts to implement standardized achievement tests or tighten graduation requirements ,,' Efforts to toughen disciplinary standards have been criticized as insensitive to minority cultures,., Reflecting the ascendancy of therapeutic approaches, selfesteem rather than analytic thinking has emerged as urban education's premier obsession,
The result has been that teachers do not confront students or parents about academic difficulties; rather, they sensitively avoid conflict. Students are thus left to wallow in a cynically condoned, ignorance-perpetuating, feel-good mire of self-deception even while their own test scores belie their self-evaluations.
Sadly, the prophets of tenderness continue to do everything in their power to avert blame from the victims, even when their specious rationalizations only cau~ delays and impede ~bstantive reform efforts. SoCiologist Douglas
Glascow, for example, would rather blame "rampant street crime among inner-city black males ... [on their} 'survival culture'" (which in turn is ostensibly a result of a racist society) than what Sykes earlier terms a breakdown of the social fabric in the black community brought on by a "wave of illegitimacy, desertions by fathers, [and} welfare dependency," among other things. The root problem, according to Sykes, is much deeper: liThe abandonment of social nonns and stigmas by the larger society left the inner city particularly vulnerable" precisely because, like all self- regulating communities, it "had been held together by a moral demand system in which 'censoriousness and blame' were the principle weapons in holding the s0-
ciety together," With the medicalization of disfavored activities, however, the community lost its power to maintain them as morally taboo.
In the realm of psychology, Sykes also provides an astonishing litany of disorders listed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Third E4i.titn'l,'Revised (DSM-III-R) which, in fhe average person's lexicon, describe anyone from raucous jerks to indecisive twits; more sensitive observers would refer to them as suffering from "Oppositional Defiant Disorder" and "Dependent Personality Disorder," respectively.
One could even diagnose a "woman who likes to stay at home with her children, for whom she cares deeply, as a classic sufferer of codependent caretaking behavior," Sykes notes.
Sykes also attacks the ambiguous language of various laws governing employers. Observe the FBI agent who was fired for embezzling $2,000 from the government (only to lose it in Atlantic City), but won reinstatement by claiming that his fondness for gambling with other people's money was a "'handicap' and thus protected under federal law ."
Similar episodes of ridiculousness are hardly rare, and Sykes does a masterful job of compiling them into discussions on timely issues from race relations and Afrocentrism to feminism and the portrayal of women in the media.
Sykes offers neither immediate nor facile solutions, but his remedies can be understood as requiring a renaissance of virtue, a reaffirmation of ourselves as free, responsible agents, and a moratorium on blame, which, if nothing else, would make people "question how useful it is to focus our efforts on self-exculpation and victimist posturing," Until people consciously begin to undo the paradigm shift that our country has seen, however, the prognosis remains bleak.
was the chance to be back in the univer-sity environment."
Cain, who received a bachelor's degree in psychology from Iowa State University and a master's degree in business administration from Central Michigan University noted that she '"loves the environment of. the university, the campus setting, and the energy and the enthusiasm and the passion that students fee!."
In response to Leach's comments about her experience with people of other ethnicities, Cain stated that she was "di!r appointed that that would be the perception anyone would have of me. I believe in issues of. diversity, and I feel a strong commitment to that.
''The Oakland County demographics are such that of its one million-some people, only about seven percent are considered non-white. So there isn't a real huge blend, and there isn't the diversity that the University of Michigan has here. But frankly, again, that was one of the very compelling reasons to me for wanting to be here:
"I have been very involved on both the state and national level with issues that deal with diversity," Cain explained. "} have been considered for various task forces for women of color, lesbian task forces, and I've always supported that work. We brought speakers into our agency in Oakland County who dealt specifically with issues like homophobia and racism. So I was surprised by that criticism, frankly, and disappointed, be-cause \ don't feel that's reflective of my track ftlCQrd," Cain said.
Leach finally asserted that ''The committee [which selected the director) felt
THE MICHIGAN REvIEW
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that Kata [lssari, who had been SAP AC' s interim director andwho waS one of the final two candidates for the job of director] was the best candidate to hire." Although Cain herself was "not familiar with that aspect of the search process," Bruce Namerow, president of the Interfraternity Council and a member of the committee, disagrees with Leach.
H(Associate Vice President of Student Services} Royster Harper (who made the final hiring decision) originally charged the committee to give her' a list of four or five candidates, rank them, and list the positive and negative aspects of each: But the list we finally gave her did not contain a ranking of the candidates. So the committee messed up. Three members explicitly wanted Kata, bU!Jhe vote was by no means unanimous. The three people in favor of Kata had adl,lally worked with her; it would have peen difficult for them to vote against her.
"Royster, however, handle4 ,the matter oWfttively," Namerow continued. "Since she knew Kata better "'than she knew G].in, she had to overcome her own personal bias in favor of Kata. Fortunately, Cain was dearly the better choice. In my phone interview with Debra, 1 found her incredibly articulate, intelligent, well-rounded, and very experienced. It's unfortunate that this has become an issue of Kata versus Cain. Both of them are very talented, and in the end it was really a choice between a positive and a positive."
A group calling itself the Committee to Preserve the Integrity of SAP AC voiced yet another criticism of Cain, namely that her masters degree in administration rather than a social science will detract from her ability to adequately fulfill the
requirements of her new job. Cain's answer, however, is again compelling.
"} believe that, based on my experience, I have the best of both worlds. It was very purposeful that I chose to get a degree in administration. My bachelor's degree is in psychology. The reality is that the job of director here is not a counselor's job. It is to a fairly high extent an administrative position, and therefore you need administrative skills and background. You need to know how to do budgeting and be responsible for money, and you need to understand personnel issues because you're responsible for hiring and firing and evaluating and all those kinds of things.
'1 have both job experience with that in having worked with a budget of well over a million dollars a year (which is larger than SAP AC' s [and funds] almost 50 paid employees, compared to a much smaller nUlllber here), but I also have the fonna! training for that So I feel that [my master's degree) is a strength."
The most recent barrage leveled at Cain came in the form of an MSA resolution which expressed serious doubt about Cain and the process behind her~~bon. Sponsored by U!CSU.1, U1V-r~lUUon
vowed to "investigate the search pfOCe$ and the decision thathas led to the hiring of the new coordinator of SAP AC."
Brent House, one of three MSA representatives who voted against the res0-
lution, justified his vote on the grounds that he had too little information to support such a negatively-worded statement. '1 didn't know enough about her to condemn her and her selection. I didn't want to go on record as supporting some-thing I wasn't all that informed about." House thought, however, that many of
Chippewa Name Retained Continued from Page 1
educational efforts and the elimination of related symbols and drumbeats. The committee, however, was divided on the use of the Chippewa name.
Jakubauskas then announced that for a trial period of three years, the name would be retained, but Native American logos; drumbeats and related symbols would be eliminated. CMU has not used a Native American mascot for over 20 years.
During the trial period, the letter "C" was used as an athletic symbol. Plachta announced with his recommendation that "the university will develop an appropriate university athletic symbol with the cooperation of Native American art-
ists." hibits and programs. Plachta said that no matter what his He additionally suggested that CMU
recommendation was, he "re-evaluate and improve its would "please some and di!r educational efforts to sensi-appoint others." Neverthe-- tize its students, faculty and less he felt that the majority staff to Native American tra-of the CMU communitY ditions and culture" and use could be relied on "to work the Chippewa name in a harder at using the Chippewa broader cooteXl', such as Nap-name with honor and re- plying the Chippewa name sped" to a campus facility, for ex-
Along with his recom- ample." mendation to maintain the Unlike CMU's decision, name, Plachta made several EMU President Shelton an-related proposals. He sug- nounced in 1991 that the gested that CMU "expand University would be chang-educational assistance programs and ing its Huron nickname to the Eagles. other services to Native Americans" and Since then, Huron Restoration has been increase its sponsorship of cultural ex- working to reverse that decision.
September 30, 1992
his fellow members who voted in favor of the resolution may have done so for legitimate reasons. '1 think a lot of members are inclined to vote in favor of resolutions of that sort. It's also possible that they may have known more about Cain than I did, and therefore had valid reasons for voting for the resolution," he reflected. Given the intent of the resolution, namely to "investigate" Cain's hiring, the suggestion that representatives who supported the resolution "may have known more about Cain" is unlikely.
House was unsure as to why Leach has been so vocal in formenting opposition to Cain, but he was willing to venture a guess. "Colin Leach sponsored the MSA resolution. He was the main person who spoke on it, and his main supporters were from the Progressive Party. I'm sure he would just love to have a person in there [SAP AC] who would make SAP AC as political as possible, who would be involved in activism, who would deal in politics rather than combat sexual a!r sault. I ,must admit that since they [Leach and the Progressive Party] were so against ' her, maybe she's not going to be as bad as Hormer SAPAC Director] Julie Steiner w ...... rut'" maybe that's why they're so up in anns about her."
Although it is still too early to evaluate how effective a director of SAP AC Cain will be, one hopes that she will eschew the political contamination which pervaded SAP AC under the leadership of Steiner and focus instead on finding practical means of dealing with the problem of sexual assault on campus.
Tony Ghecea is a junior in English and an executive editor of the Review.
Brock said the group's goals are to restore the Huron name and modify the logo to be histOrically correct, establish a cultural center which would highlight the Huron tribe, and create a Huron scholarship fund.
''My imp~OI\" Brock says, "is that the tribes [with which we have worked} are disgusted with EMU and feel that the university has snubbed them."
Asked about the use of Native American logos or names for sports teams or schools, Susan Hill of the University of Michigan Native American Students Association declined to comment.
Karen S. Brinkman is the publisher of the Review.
eptember 30, 1992 THE MICHIGAN REVIEW 11
-he Fortnightly Federal/st: Paper No.5 '" ., il;! ".
Fighting the Intolerance of Faction ,Kurt Schmautz
The ideal of tolerance of others has :cupied a prominent place in American .inking since the earliest days of the ttion. Many of America's earliest set~rs had experienced intolerance in their ltive lands, while others thought tolerICe was necessary to assure that groups colonists could cohere and coexist to
'rm a nation. The First Amendment to le Constitu
the only black family living in the working class neighborhood where Viktora resides. They entered the family's fencedin yard and planted the cross, whidl they then proceeded to set ablaze.
Two charges were filed against Viktora, one of which was the St. Paul , Bias-Motivated Crime Ordinance. (The Court's ultimate ruling did not disturb the second conviction.) The challenged
on, which ..------------------~ or di nance read:
larantees the eedoms of re~ion, speech, ,d press, is early di ~cted at the ~oblem of in,lerance, es~cially that of Dlitical intol'ance.
The fram's of the Constitution often referred to ltolerance with another term: faction. lction can serve as a more precise term I a First Amendment context because it ·cates the problem of intolerance a potical phenomenon - an abuse of gov'nmental power - intended to silence issent for presumably ignoble ends. lction captures the idea that an intolerIt govemment corrupted by cabal poses much greater threat to liberty than inllerant individuals. \
This distinction is not obvious to the roponents of hate crime laws and camus conduct codes. Advocates of such leasures would support the use of gov~ment power to stamp out the intolernce of private individuals. As the facons analysis might suggest, however, ~ent agitation for hate crime legislation )rresponds to the rise in power of cerun left-leaning political elements in our xiety and on our campuses.
When the Supreme Court overturned t. Paul's hate crime ordinance in RA.V. . City of St. Paul this summer, it unoubtedly had a similar historical perpective in mind. RA. V. prompted the Jniversity to draft its proposed State:lent of Student Rights and Responsibili,es because the decision almost certainly wuld have invalidated the Interim Code on Discrimination and Discriminatory :onduct.
In RAV., the Court considered the ase of Robert Viktora, a teenage kinhead . On June 21, 1990, Viktora and everal of his friends constructed a crude ross made of broken chair legs. They hen went across the street to the home of
4"-~,,),;" "
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Whoever places on public or private property asymbol,object, appellation, characteriza tion or graffiti, including, but not limited to, a burning cross or Nazi
swastika, which one knows or has reasonable grounds to know arouses anger, alarm or resentment in others on the basis of race, color, creed, religion or gender commits disorderly conduct and shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.
St. Paul sought to excuse its ordinance on the grounds that it applied only to "fighting words" - invoking an exception to the First Amendment's free speech protection. Under this exception, states may regulate speech which is likely or calculated to provoke violence.
R. A. V. demolished this defense through a careful examination of st. Paul's motives for passing the law. First, the Court observed that the st. Paul ordinance did not apply to all fighting words, but only to those based on "race, color, creed, religion or gender." The law would not apply, for example, if Viktora had spray painted anti-homosexual epithets on the home of a gay couple, or if he had thrown pig's blood on a visiting general in protest of the Gulf War, even though these acts could plauSibly have led to violence. The Court determined that St. Paul intended to issue a warning to those who held views
which it found to be unacceptable. The Court discerned in the law's
guidelines a pernicious effort to regulate
punish "threats of injury or harm," discrimination on the basis of "race, ethnicity, gender, religion, sexual orien
the content of ..-______________ --, tation, creed, national origin, ancestry, age or marital status," and, perhaps most alarming in its eye-of-the-b~ holder quality, "harassment that unreasonably interferes with an in d i v id ua I' s work, educa
speech. Moreover, it declared this regulation to be unacceptable despite the government's authority to ban fighting words. The Court thus adhered to a rule which torpedoed the University's in-terim code: the L..-______________ --J
power to regulate fighting words does not itlclude the power to impose content limitations.
The Court drew an analogy between St. Paul's efforts to stamp out offensive speech and the recent flag burning cases:
We have long held ... that nonverbal expressive activity can be banned because of the action it entails, but not because of the ideas it expresses - so that burning a flag in violation of an ordinance against outdoor fires could be punishable, whereas burning a flag in violation of an ordinance against dishonoring the flag is not.
Simply put, the government cannot use regulation to force people to assent to its concept of propriety when it comes to freedom of expression. As R.A. V. concluded, "St. Paul has no authority to license one side of a debate to fight freestyle, while requiring the other to follow Marquis of Queensbury Rules."
While R.A. V.'s rule may be good news for opponents of U-M's code, it does not change the uneven balance of power at the University. The new code serves as a reminder that the commissars of political correctness still run the show, and they will not be deterred so easily.
Although Vice President for Student Affair s Maureen Hartford
has stated that the "New and Improved Code" will not constrain speech on campus, the current draft contains language that could be interpreted to punish the expression of politically incorrect thought. The U-M reserves authority to
tional performance, or living environ-ment."
The broad generality of these provisions leaves the full nature of the code's prohibitions relatively inscrutable, at least until the administration starts to enforce them. Students should be skeptical of the administration's ability to enforce the curren.!. code in good faith, espeCially in
<"".ligtttOf the fallibility of prior codes. And while Hartford has promised that a new draft will be forthcoming, students should not automatically assume that the input the administration has solicited from students will be incorporated into it, either fully or accurately.
The fight is far from over. Students can work to prevent the adoption of the code, but even if such efforts fail, those punished under its regulation can still object to the way in which it is enforced.
As the founding fathers predicted, factions, if unchecked, inevitably seek to exercise and expand their power at the expense of others. With the current code, there is a faction in the administration slowly encircling the University like the coils of a snake, eagerly awaiting its opportunity to squeeze out disfavored viewpoints. Students have the option of either placing their rights in the hands of the University or continuing the fight to retain those rights themselves. Given all of its actions, past and present, however, the administration dearly should not be trusted to handle~,.ch an important responSibility as the preservation of those rights entails.
Kurt Schmautz is a third-year law student and a member of the U-M Federalist Society.
Helmet is Tough, Despite Appearance by Joe Epatlen
So, where have you been all summer? In the fish canning factories of Alaska? Following the presidential campaign trail way too clO'lely? Stuck in some awful McJob working terrible hours for crummy pay? Have you missed what's going on in the music world? Well, here is a little snippet of what's been happening.
It's obvious that even Nirvana could learn a thing or two from this "power trio." Check them out when they play Hill Auditorium on October 20.
Helmet In The Meantime Interscope Records
I was talking to my friend Ed the other day, and the band Helmet came up. "Oh, thooe guys are tough," he said. Need-
Sugar less to say this quite an understatement, Copper Blue even coming Rykodisc from Ed, Big Ed
In the fall of that is, who 1990, Bob Mould bench presses played the Nec- a b ou t 35' 5 tarine Ballroom pounds and has and blew me biceps larger away . Armed than my legs. with tracks from Despite his booming Bhuk their Richie Sheets of Rain al- Cunningham/ bum and his Potsy Webber softer, introspec- looks, Helmet is tive, acoustic tough. With fe-Workbook, Mould rocious metallic proved to be the guitar riffs and demi-god I fi st-pumping thought he was. rhythms, Helmet
Once again, scored big with Mould and his their 1990 debut new trio, Sugar Strap It On, and (with drummer Hel~t are (I- r) John Stainer, Henry Bogdan, Page were signed to Malcom, Travis Harmlton and Peter Mengede. Interscope and bassi6t Davis Barbe), come out with Records this past spring. an ethereal slice of post-punk noise, and In the Meantime is more of the same. draw an instant comparison to the leg- John Stanier and Henry Bogdan, drum-endary Husker Dii. mer and bassist respectively, may be one
"I was at every Husker Du show, I of the best rhythm sections in music to-didn't miss one. It's obvious that there day; they're definitely the loudest. With would be some parallels," said Mould. tons of complex arrangements (Stanier
Copper Blue, however, stands on its studied Orchestral Percussion at the Uni-own. "Changes" and "Helpless" are both versity of Miami) they furiously pound throw-backs'to mid-1980s Husker in the out hard core / metal beats that leave the vein of Wherehouse: Songs and Stories, listener senseless. Meanwhile, Hamilton while" A Good Idea" sounds almost Pix- screeches out lyrics as if exorcizing de-ies-ish. Mould comes out of his lyrically mons while Mengede gels the whole therapeutic shell with more lighthearted sound with his shredding guitar. songs like "If I Can't Change Your Mind." Particularly shining moments are a
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re-recording of "Unsung," Originally a 45 Single, "Role Model" and the album's title track. A few tracks fall victim to overpr04uction, a problem that plagues many bands making the indie--major switch.
After their blistering set at the Blind Pig this past spring, Helmet returned to Detroit this
summer and also recently opened for Faith No More on September 24 at Detroit's State Theater.
Jawbox Novelty Dischord Records
Jawbox's sophomore effort shows real growth. Drummer Zachary Barocas, bassist Kim Coletta and guiartists/ vocalists Bill Barbot and Jay Robbins highlighted a tight, sissycore (read poppy, melodic, yet still hardcore) sound on their critically acclaimed 1991 debut Grippe.
With Novelty, though, Jawbox becomes more sonic without losing their tight sound. They seem to have dropped their sissy-ness without losing their core. Despite Jawbox's guitar-heavy reputation, Robbins and Barbot take a back seat to Coletta's masterful bass playing and
Barocas' throbbing drums. Robbins shows off his singing voice, rather than indecipherable screams - a very nice change. Tracks like "Iinkwork," "Static," and "Spit- Bite" allow the DC-based band to flex their musical muscles without seeming gaudy or overbearing.
Of course there is a bit of Ian McKaye and his band Fugazi on Nooelty, but on a close-knit label like McKaye's Dischord, that is to be expected.
But don' t think Jawbox is in the shadow of their labelmates. After touring with Helmet and Shudder to Think this past spring, they are headlining in Europe this month and are hitting the West Coast later this year.
Joe Epstein is a staff writer for the ReVIew.
Safari! 'Well-Bred by Drew Peters
Bassist Kim Deal, while on a break from The Pixies, has picked up a guitar and gone out on the road with her other band, The Breeders.
"The Pixies ' had to rest," explained
at work on a solo project, so don't expect to hear from the Pixies for some time.
Meanwhile, Deal and her band are out on the road breaking in its new members: drummer Mike Hunt (fake name, say it quickly) and Kim's sister and gui-
Deal. . C 1· :;::ZU;~}ftv:-- EQi ,ji. II&!;§R":'}"Y",: f -I tarist "Tanya, our guitarist, was living close to me in Boston and we used to hang out. We started playing together, and when4AD found out, they asked fora demo
Kelley, who learned to play a mere two months before The Breeders toured Europe with Nirvana and T eenag e Fan Club.
The Breeders will per
form at St. Andrews with Unrest and His Name is Alive this Friday, October 2.
tape. At The Breeders are ~l-r) Kelley Deal, Tanya Donelly, Josephine Wiggs, first we MikeHuntandK"nDeal.
were like, 'You're kidding, right?' but now we're like 'That was a good idea.'"
Recently, The Breeders released an EP entitled Safari. The songs contain the same Pixies fuzz-twang pop, while stressing the soft, feminine vocals of such Pixies greats as "Into the White" and "Gigantic." Elektra also re--released Pod, a full length Breeders album recorded two years ago.
The Breeders will go into the studio to record another album in December, and Pixies vocalist Black Francis is hard
Drew Peters in a freshman in LSA and a staff writer for the Review.
1.-----------:--, I Crusty MWlcher is "on vacation," but I
I will allegedly return next week. He is I I rumored to have been unaVOidably I
detained while conducting top-secret, I high-level negotiations between Iowa I I and Nebraska. Nobody knows about I Lwha~ _________ -.l
