University of Michigan - Michiganensian Yearbook (Ann Arbor, MI)

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World Problems Drugs Nuclear war Racism Overpopulation National debt Poverty AIDS Homeless people Personal Problems Geting a job Getting into grad school Money Food Graduation Lifetime mate Opposite: Students protest racism in a Diversity Day march. (ROBIN LOZMK) Top: Students scrawl anti-racist sen- timents on Diag shanties. (M (ARTWORK BY KEVIN WOODSON) MICHIGAN LIFE 25

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Racism on campus: Codes and classes cause division Although a university is traditionally considered a place where open minds gather to learn, large college campuses are often the setting of narrow- mindedness, discrimination, and subsequent racial unrest. The current year ' s decline in University applicants has been attributed by some to bad publicity over racial relations. Also, recent studies show that the opportunity of higher education is more dependent on factors of race and economic status than expected. This past year at the U-M, there have been several ambitious at- tempts to improve racial tensions and create more opportunities for minority students on campus. In September of 1989, Ann Arbor hosted the state ' s an- nual NAACP conference. The conference focused primarily on campus racism. Vice Pro- vost for Minority Affairs Charles Moody, University President James Duderstadt, and Michigan Governor James Blanchard were key speakers at a seminar which raised such issues as financial aid for minority students, and recent Supreme Court restrictions on abortion and affirmative action rights. The seminar questioned the effect of these restrictions on the civil rights movement as a whole. A rash of racial incidents last year resulted in the adoption of a new antidiscriminatory policy by the University. It was the intention of this policy to forbid harrassment based on race, sex, or religion. However, not long after its adoption, the constitutionality of this policy was challenged Couples pose at an Engineers ' party, 1911. {BtNTLEY HISTORICAL LIBRARY) in court by the American Civil Liberties Union. A federal judge stated that a substantial portion of the policy was too vague, giving too much discretion to university administrators, and declared the policy to be a violation of First Amendment rights. Perhaps the most controversial race-oriented issue on campus this year has been the proposed mandatory class on racism. University Course 299 is the result of a two-year effort on the part of the United Coalition Against Racism to establish anti-racism education as a requirement for all undergraduates. The controversy surrounding this class is not based solely on its format; most of the debate centers on the pros and cons of making this type of class a requirement rather than an elective. Those in support of a required class believe that by making educa- tion and contemplation of racial issues compulsory, the course would ease racial tension and create a more beneficial environ- mentfor integration. Proponents of the class believe that the type of person who would get the greatest benefit from this class would never elect it if it were not mandatory. Those opposed to a required course on racism argue that mandating education in order to stimulate social reform is fundamentally wrong. In April of 1989, the proposal for a required course on racism was voted down by a margin of 20 votes. Although neither the mandatory class nor the Univer- sity ' s anti-harrassment policies were successfully im- plemented, these proposals have marked 1989 as a year of action for the rights of minorities at the University of Michigan. by Andrea Balding 24 MICHIGAN LIFE

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Sexual Activity Frequent (at least once a week) Abstinent (0-2 times a year) Occasional (6-12 times a year) Often (1-2 times a month) Top: Bobby Milstein demonstrates the right way to put on a condom. (BILL WOOD) Bottom: Safer sex education is a primary goal of U-M Health Serv- ices. (AMY SEINFELD) Opposite: Health Serwices lo- cated on Fletcher Street provides free condoms to U-M students. (AMY SEINFELD) 26 MICHIGAN LIFE