BINGHAMTON REVIEW Volume 9 Number 2 Hillg/Wl1IfOIl ("l1ive,.sity :'1 Journal o./Opininn October. 1995

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BINGHAMTON REVIEW

"God who gave us life gave us liberty"

-Thomas Jefferson

Edltor-ip-Cbld Nathan J..,ayjs Wurtzel

Business Manager Lee Markiewicz

Assistant Dunness Manager Joanne Scarola

Semor Editor and

Good Taste Arbltress Teresa McGoff

Layout Editor JcffCOOen

Copy Editor Joshua Trapani

fuas .... r Gregory PinkhasOY

Faculty Advisor Dr. Aldo Bemordo

Binghamton Review is :m independent journal of news, analysis, opinion, and commentary. Students at Binghamton Uni\'t~rsity receive the Rev{ew free of charge. Binghamton Review is published on the first Mooday of every month duringthc school year (except January).

Subsalplioos to theReview are S20 perycar and can be ordered through the editorial and busi­ness offioe located at UU-164 or mail:

Binghamton Review PO Bo.60oo

Bingltomtoo, N.Y. 13902-6000

Unsolicited manuscripts mu~ be accompanied by tho IIUthor'S current address and phone num­ber. All submissions become tbepropcn.y of the Review. The Rewewreservesthc right toedit and print any submission. Preference will be given to memben; of the Binghamton University com­munity.

Letters to the editor Are strongly encouraged and welcomed. Submissions oftess than 300 words are strongly encouraged. Submissions arc sub-­jed to editing for olarity. readability, and legnl­ity. Letters are printed as space is made avail. able and at the disaetioo. of the edaor.

Binghamton Review is chartered by the Student Association at Bingtlamt.on University.

Binghamton Review is a member of the Colle­giate Network.

BINGHAMTON REVIEW Volume 9, Number 2 October, 1995

Departments Editorial: The administration's zeal 10 conlrol every possible aspecl of student life succinctly illustrates our disdain for governmenl

4 Campus Presswatcb continues to poinl oul the fools and leftist blowhards who pervade Ihe olher student publications

Letters: Some new ideas on how the adminislration can save SUNY -8 and a plea 10 help a fallen officers family

Hillary loves her contaclS. Giuliani proleslers look silly, and SeUeck rips Sireisand in Quibbles & Bits

Features Anthony J, Benardello investigales the OCCT fiasco and finds tilat practically everybody has egg on Iheir faces

~ Lee Markiewicz sits down wilh a couple of adminislrators c::i) in an attempt 10 ex 'Plain Ihe new off campus· rules

JlC[J) Amy L. Gardner traces tile hislory of tile diversity requirement and charts its present progress

JlJl

Jl&33

Professor Allan Arkush grants permission to publish his previous commenls concerning the need for a diversily requirement

Joshua Trapani ex 'Plains why Ihere have nol been any Studenl Assembly elections this year

Teresa M'Goff conducts a sludy on leftist textbook bias-the results are sad, but expecled

Jl§ Dawn M'Kibbin releases the first installment of her sci-fi epic, "Keilka"

Gordon Sharpless advises would-be proteslcrs in "Sharper Image"

The cover photograph of tile dilferently-abled OCCT bus and curious byslanders was Iaken by Lee Markiewicz

Next Issue • A curious case of "se~,'lJal harassment"

• A look at General Colin L. Powell and his political prospecls

• Our own "Natural Highs"

Available on November 6, 1995

Cktober, 1995 Editorial

Administration Gets Greedy­What Else is New?

G¥ernment is an institution that . s generally lqathed at Bing hamton Review-with good

reason. Excepting a handful of tasks that private individuals are incapable of per­forming-such as national defense--the presence of a body overregulating per­sonal interactions is profoundly detri­mental to all involved.

The administration at Binghamton University serves nicely as a relatively small, but highly malignant example of how quickly and completely a govern­ing body can infect a successful enter­prise and encroach on personal liberty. The recent administrative bungling of the Off Campus College Transport ser­vice takeover is prime evidence.

In total candor, it must be stated that University Controller Don Paukett did have some legitimate concerns regard­ing the blue buses-specifically regard­ing the fact that the University was fork­ing over $200,000 annually to OCCT with no input as to how the service was operated. While the former coordinators dreamily clung to the notion of their "collectiven structure-really a pure democracy-as the ideal form of gover­nance, they lost sight of the moral truth-funding sources ought to have a voice in the operation of the service. As a result, OCCT lost a great deal by gam­bling on a whimsical and unrealistic quasi-Marxist fantasy.

However, this is small potatoes when compared with the larger transgression of the administration-the complete failure to recognize how well OCCT operated their service. There was abso­lutely no reason to call for a major up­rooting of the OCCT structure when the simple addition of representatives from funding sources would have sufficed. Furthermore, as·much responsibility as poSSIble should have remained with the coordinators-they knew the particulars of the service better than anyone else.

Nothing seemed to stand ,in the way of the administration in its quest to ab­sorb OCCT. When SA President Doug Boettner threatened to teU OCCT that he was being forced by the administra­tion to accept their terms, Vice Presi­dent for Student Mairs Rodger Sum­mers fired oft' a memo pleading Boettner not to "make the situation worst (sic) because ... they [the coordinators] would expect you side (sic) with them.n What's alarming about this, besides the unbe­lievably poor grammar, is the administration's notion that elected stu­dent leaders are their pawns.

Although the SA and the Review are usually at odds, it must be said that Boettner and Financial Vice President Erik Kopelman did an admirable job of dealing with the situation-one which they inherited from their unscrupulous predecessors Carrie Printz and Tom Majewski. While we would prefer that the SA as well as the administration would stay as far away as possible from our daily lives, there is nevertheless a comfort in the fact that students rather than greedy social engineers are in charge-at least this year.

Our ideal solution in regard to the OCCT mess-a fee-for-service structure that would rest all authority with the OCCT coordinators and free students who do not use the buses from "contrib­uting". In short, those who use the blue buses would pay for them by way of cash or perhaps an electronic card similar to the ones used for dining on campus. OCCT would be forced to maintain their already high standards through compe­tition With BC Transit and private own­ership of automobiles. This solution, as you might well imagine, has not been discussed at all throughout the situa­tion-a free-market enterprise would leave the administration by the side of the road-a position of detachment they can't seem to bear.

Binghamton Review 3

4 Binghamton Review

Pipe Dream September 12, 1995

Assistant Ne ws Edi tor Marianna Horton manages to write aboul cuts in EOP without inlen1iewing anybody who might be able to explain the very real inefficiency a/the program ...

"'Everyone seems to think another round of reductions will be proposed for the SUNY system in general, and spe­cial programs are always a target,' said [EOP Interim Director Louis] Del Valle.

Senior ,Katrina Huffman agreed with Del Valle 's predictions.

'The budget is going to be introduced earlier this year and we are anticipating more cuts in SUNY funding. But, we 're still here and we plan to stay alive­we're fighters ', she said."

The Student Advocate September 4, 1995

llice President for Multicultural Affairs Yumeris Morel shows her apparent in­ability to realize that people with the same in/ormation might come to COI1l­

plete(y different conclusions. The gram­mar, by the way, is hers ...

"Last year one of the major problems the office of the Vice-President for Multi-Cultural Affairs faced was the lack of understanding which existed in respect to what the office is about, IIle rype of programming that it is a part of, and more specifically the structure of the office. One of its major goals this year is to ensure that there is an accurate understanding of the office and about the role of its position within the Student Association. I have. attributed the mis­information that has existed to the re­cent attacks that have taken place on affirmative action (which in my opin­ion has also taken place bce.ause of a lack of information) ...

The VPMA's office is hoping its ef­forts and as well as the ICA program­ming this year will help to establish a better understanding of the Office and its impact on the entire student body."

Campos Presswuteh

Pipe Dream September 22 , 1995

This editorial should be declared ille­gal unless served with butler and syrup ...

"You ' re at a party and some folks are smoking the stuff: pot. So you think­whatever-some people think it 's the greatest llting, some people just don 't do it because it carries the stigma of an illegal drug and they want to run for President of the United States or some­thing ...

No one can tell you why not, but de­spite its popularity, a lot of students con­sistently choose not to light up ... They give enigmatic answers as to why they don 't smoke. Ultimately, a significant portion of people decline to try ...

The possible legalization of the sub­stance would only heighten IIle aspect of smoking marijuana as a personal choice-with the furth er implication that if you don 't choose it, you' re shack­led to some archaic notion of Puritan­ism.

So we' re all for the status quo ofmari­juana: illegal, slightly taboo, largely available to those that want it. "

October, 1995

Student Organization Directory 1995-96

We 'd love to see these two organizations listed side-by-side .. .

" l2G-Coalition for Family Valucs­educated students on values which form the foundation of the fantily. The group concentrates on pro-life issues, but in addition works on other causes vital for the preservation of the family, includ­ing assistance to families in need and haIting the destructive efforts of pornog­raphy. lf you are concerned about the future of the family, we encourage you to join us,"

"Ot8--Pro-Choice Coalition-is dedi­cated to providing accurate information on abortion, birth control, health care, and women's rights ... We are strongly committed to defending women's health care clinics from anti-choice attacks and blockades .. . Our group invites all to at­tend meetings and activities and does NOT discrintinate on the basis of any­thing."

Pipe Dream September 19, 1995

Howard Unger has not only lost his bid to become Edilor-in-Chief of Pipe Dream, but his sex drive, as well. We feel for you, Howie .. .

"Has anyone ever stopped to wonder why there's such a big hype over Miss America; why it still exists? Defenders claim its fabled history; the same thing European witch hunters said after find­ing themselves out of ajob sometime in the 17th century; the same thing Bob Hope says about his career; the same tlting the networks said about Hee-Haw. What started out as a Depression Era outdoor hurlesque show has elevated it­self into an indoor, multi-million dollar eX'jJloitative talent show for hicks who ca n 't afford to watch soft porn on Cinemax. God save Miss America, de­fender of all that is good and savior to the good people of Oklahoma!"

October. l'i'i:; Cover Story Bing hamton Review 5

Administration, SA, & OCCT Battle

Students at Binghamton University have a job-to go to school. be come educated. and finally be­

come productive citizens of society. Does that job im'olvc running a bus service to get students to and from campus? Perhaps it docs. but does it then follow that students should accept state money for the service without allowing state input?

In 1971. enterprising students at the then State University of New York at Binghamton founded Off Campus Col­lege Transport (OCCT), largely due to lack of comprehensive sen'ice from Broome County Transport. At that time. BCT only provided weekday service until 6:30 P.M. and no buses on Sun­days. This left many. especially gradu­ate students. to fend for themselves in getting transport to and from campus. By 1995 . OCCT had grown from a single bus to ten. as well as two lift­equipped vehicles and two vans.

At that point. Binghamton University was contributing half of the funding for the sen'iee. about two hundred thousand dollars per year. said current OCCT Di­rector of Transportation Andrew Lohmann, but had no input as to how the business was operated.

OCCT had always taken pride in its collective structure. stated former coor­dinator Abby Kessler. All drivers and coordinators, she said. each had one vote in making sen'ice and policy decisions. Lohmann added that the collective fos­tered"a sense of community" among the OCCT staff-they would often put in extra time to help solve the problems of the collective.

Kessler believes that the recent loss of student control will lead to higher ex­pense. "No one is willing to put the time in to fix the problems. because the driv­ers no longer have the control we once did:' she said.

Lohmann and Kessler both agreed

By Anthony). Benardello

that the dri, ers could once "fine tunc" the routes that affccted students most and that lhl! prior collcct.i\'c structure fos­tered better cooperation. All things be­ing equal. said Lohmann ... the quality of the new OCCT is down ."

Since Lohmann and Kessler agree on the major issues. where did the OCCT controversy begin and why arc the two coordinators on opposite sides?

Last semester. OCCT was transferred from the state payroll to the Student

5;ince (Jeer was transferred Jrom/he s tudei'll collective tn a corporatioll r ll ll hy drivers ami Jimding sources, the hus service has experienced a few g litches

6 Binghamton Review

Association (SA). Kessler charges that University Controller Don Paukett was direcUy responsible for this action, al­though Paukett has not confirmed this and there is no hard evidence to sub­stantiate her claim. An account was cre­ated by then Financial Vice President (FVP) Tom Majewski for OCCT, but the university then decided to renege on their financial commitment unless changes were made in the collective structure. According to a memo from University Assistant Vice President for Student Life Lloyd Howe to SA Presi­dent Doug Boettner, the administration was concerned about risk and liability. Howe, in consultation with Paukett, sug­gested that a board of drivers and fund­ing sources be created to administer OCCT.

The OCCT, according to an SA press release, "thought they were an autono­mous body [in the pastj," but this was not the case. The SA had always held

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Cover Story

all insurance and liability coverage and was "directly responsible for all actions taken by OCCT."

Bocttner said that he attempted four times to negotiate a new contract with former coordinators Kessler, Christo­pher Burger, and Shoshana Lev. The fi­nal offer paid the coordinators $18,460 per ycar plus medical benefits, with the stipulation that the coordinators were appointed "at-will" and were to report directly to the FVP- now the newly­elected Erik Kopelman. Kess ler, Burger, and Lev refused the appointment, stat­ing that the "at-will" clause, among other concerns, prevented agreement.

At this point, the SA said that they transferred OCCT to a "separate, inde­pendent operating co rporation"­OCCT, Inc. The operational authority of this corporation rested with a Trans­portation Board composed of all fund­ing sources save the University, the SA said.

October, 1995

Howe, in his memo, had suggested that the University Transportation Com­mittee be granted decision making au­thority in order to " remove the account­ability of the coordinators from the driv­ers." This was clearly unaccept~ble to the coordinators and appears to have ap­palled Boettner. In a confidential memo obtained by Binghamton Review, Vice President for Student Affairs Rodger Summers tried to dissuade Boettner from telling the coordinators that he was being forced to accept the administration 's terms. " If you went back and told the coordinators that we forced you to accept the new terms, Doug, this would only as I said, make the situation worst (sic) because then, they would expect you side (sic) with them if you were truly being forced to accept OUf terms," Summers wrote . Boettner refused to comment on the memo and Summers did not return phone calls on the matter despite re-

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October, 1995

peated attempts to contact him. The new corporation is headed by the

SA, which serves as any E-Board would its shareholders. To replace the coordi­nators, the SA hired Lohmann as the new Director of Transportation, a posi­tion that pays $31,000 plus benefits yearly. Throughout the early part of the summer, said Kessler, Lohmann and other drivers were paid despite the fact that there waS no bus service. On July 12, Kessler said, new titles and regis­trations were issued to OCCT, InC.-an action she says will be fought with legal recourse.

For his part, Lohmann said "safety is our first concern." In answer to charges concerning the new driver training, which has been cut from ten to five weeks, Lohmann said that "they are do­ing the same amount of driving in those five weeks as they did in ten weeks." Lohmann said that all new drivers passed their tests on the first attempt.

Cover Story

In response, Kessler asserts that the former collective was "most capable of providing safe and reliable bus service to the University community." The lo­gistics of Lohmann 's organization are a "recipe for disaster" and the new driv­ers cannot handle the fall schedule, she said.

Boettner publicly stated that the SA takeover "is the best'thing for the stu­dents as well as the school." He said "the SA is committed to seeing that this fo­rum will be weighted favorably toward students. "

It appears that the SA was willing to map out a treaty palatable to all, but the coordinators and administration were unwilling to compromise. The coordi­nators wanted total control-they could not have it. The administration's unnec­essary secrecy and aloof manner sug­gests that they had something to gain by wresting ocer from the collective--­our investigation into that aspect will

Binghamton Review 7

continue. The SA has succeeded in en­suring liability and, for the moment, funding for the student bus service.

Do the students lose? Perhaps in the short term, if the safety concerns and scheduling blunders continue. There may be a inore efficient OCCT in the future once the bugs are worked out, however.

What of the former coordinators? Due to their stubbornness, they are the big losers-not because they dido't care--­but because they forgot that the first rule in labor-management negotiation is compromise. They would have given up total control, but they would have had more money and a better OCCT. Col­lectives did not work under socialism! communism and they won't work at Binghamton University, either.

Anthony J. Benardello is a junior ma­joring in political science. Nathan Wurtzel contributed to this article.

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8 Binghamton Review News October. 1995

Administration Extends Jurisdiction

O e of the many changes in Uni rersily policy finalized this

summer was the alteration in the Student Rules and E~-pectations ex­tending jurisdiction to off campus resi­dents. Off campus conduct may be ad­dressed under current judicial proce­dures when those actions "endanger the personal safety of members of the uni­versity community".

When asked what constitutes this en­dangerment. Dean David L. Anderson explained his position by first giving Binghamton Review a copy of an inter­nal policy statement that was given to Judicial Affairs. It states that the accused must be enrolled at the time of the inci­dent. the incident must involve endan­gering behavior such as violent assault. rape, or arson~ and that there must be reason to believe sufficient information will be available to the hearing board to render a decision on the charges. Ander­son clearly stated, U[We1 are not talk­ing about drinking at parties ... we are talking about physical injury." He also stated that adequate case law exists for addressing misconduct off campus. but the university had been reluctant to ad­dress it until recently. Anderson high­lighted the legitimate concern with nor­mal New York criminal process and its length with an incident in which a stu­dent was arrested for shooting a bow in a residence hall-still pending in court years later. In more serious cases, the University wanted to be able to take ac­tion quickly so danger may not exist for a victim when they return to campus. Action can be initiated by either com­plaint or university learning of facts re­lated to an incident, but they will not proactively investigate.

When asked about the rules of evi­dence, both Dean Anderson and Direc­tor of Judical Affairs Steve Nelson con­firmed that the "preponderance of evi­dence" standard still applies. Anderson.

By Lee Marldewicz ------~~--.-----------------

however. did allude to the fact that they will treat differently a case that would invoke this rule. When asked about the same issue~ and why higher standards aren't applied. Nelson hinted that it would not be fair to apply higher stan-

dards to one type of offense. He defended the standard because it docsn't jeopar­dize "true libert)·'·. Nelson said that to require the "beyond reasonable doubt" standard requires more training for the staff. "The 200 or so RA's and RD's in

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DATE:

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FROM:

SU8JECf:

August 24. 1995

All Members of the University Community

David (~Anderso~'\~ Associate Vice President/Dean of Students

University RutH and ExpectatloM, 1995-96

Each year the University publishes Ruin anti Exp«Iat;ons. a compendium of rules and policies. All members of the University community are encour.ged to review the "University Expt'ctaUons- and "Other University Policies" sections of the dtXUmen\.

Expected undergradual£> and graduilt~ student conduct is outlined in the "R\"~ of Student Conduct." Alleged violations of these rules are addressed through the protess explained in "Studcmt Judicial Procedures."

The University does not. as a matter of general practice, pursue alleged uff· rampus student misconduct. However, in those exceptlonal CASeS that could endanger the }X'I"sonal safety of members of the University community, action may be taken.

NOJl2 of these polities or rules are intended to infringe on the bask fr«'dorns of s~. assembly, or free inquiry. They are designed to mt'et the pranical requirements for tht> efrectlve operation of the University.

Should you have questions regarding "Rules of Student Condud" or "Student judicial Procedures,· please contact Mr. Stephen Marcou" Nelson- Director of Judida) Affairs, at 771-6210. For additional infonnation regarding a particular policy Ilst2d in '"Other Unh'er:;ity PoUdes,· please rerer to the department responsJhJe for it, adminlo;tration.

STIITE UN1VERSll'Y OF NEW

This memo was included in a/l new copies o/Rules and Expectations distrihuted this semester

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October, 1995

residential life didn 't go to U,e New York State police academy," he said. Nelson is willing to look into the possibility of changing the standards as long as that standard is consistent for both on and off campus cases and is well-defined.

Anderson made it clear that the ulti­mate say in invoking an off campus ju­risdiction case lies with him.

Geography will not be a constraining factor in off campus jurisdiction. "The issue for me is how the scenario endan­gers members of the university commu­nity," Nelson said. "Does it meet all the tests ... the list of offenses ... the standard of evidence ... enough evidence from wit­nesses ... the student being enrolled .. .it clearly endangers university community members ... if it meets those, whether it happens here or in the Bahamas on spring break, it is just as valid," he con­cluded.

In a worst case scenario, one can be e'-pelled from school by a three member panel that is 51% sure that a student committed an act that "endangers the university community"-having never be convicted in a court of law and the

News

act having taken place on the other side of thc country. This is an obvious exag­geration. but it illustrates the potential long-term flaw in the ambiguity that exists.

Anderson supports an inclusion of his policy memo in next year 's Rules and EXJlCCtations manual. Nelson is willing to consider this and other changes to clarify and refine the rules to address student concerns. Among ideas he is willing to consider are a higher evidence standard, inclusion of the policy memo next year, an addition of more board members in special cases, and any other concern brought forth .

Dean Anderson can be reached at ex­tension 4879 and is located in AD 229. Steve Nelson 's office is located above residential life in CIW and his exten­sion is 6210 . Both encouraged con­cerned students to come forward with suggestions to improve and clarify these rules.

Lee A1arkiewicz is the Business /l'/anager oj Binghamton Review. Chris Bates contributed to this arlicle.

Binghamton Review 9

4. All matters on which iii decision may be bilSed must be brought up at the hearing and must be based on iii. preponderance of evidence.. A preponderance of evidence is of greater weight or more convlndng than the evidence which is offered in 0pposltlon ro it; that is, evidence whict'! as a whole shows the faCt

sought to be proved is more probable than not Preponderance of evidence may not be deter­mined by the number of witnesses. but by the greater weight of all evidence. which does not mean the greater number of witnesses. but opportunity for knowledge. information pas· sessed. and manner of testifying (Henry C. Black. Black's law Diaion.ry, 5th 0<1. West Publishing Co., St Paul. 1979, p. 1064}.StudenlS

The standards of evidence are a key concern for students affected by the new regliialiolls. This oddition to the rules and expectations establishes a

lower standard than in a criminal court. in which the accused must be found guil!y beyond a reasonable

doubt.

BINGHAMTON REVIEW Presents:

Jeremy Rabkin Professor of Law at Cornell University

"Sexual Harassment and the University"

Thursday, October 26 4:00P.M. UU-221B

10 Binghamton Review News October, 1995

Diversity Requirement In Committee

N er two years of debate and ar gument in Harpur College

ouncil (HCC), a new diversity requirement was finally passed at the end oflast semester. The earliest the new diversity requirement will be imple­mented is the fall semester of 1996. It will only apply to incoming freshman.

There are still many questions to be answered before the requirement can be implemented. The main sticking point is how the Harpur College requirement will coincide with the "Global Visions" requirement passed by the Faculty Sen­ate last semester.

To answer these questions, the diver­sity requirement resolution stipulated that a committee be formed to set guide­lines for implementation and to deter­mine how best to maximize the number of courses satisfying both requirements. If no attempt is made to have the two requirements complement each other in the curriculum, it is possible that Harpur College students would have to take four diversity courses. That is a whole semes­ter of classes. Students already have a large load to fulfill their majors-four more classes could lead to delayed graduation.

The Diversity Implementation Com-

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mittee is supposed to report to HCC by November I for consideration of their recommendations. The committee is composed of sixteen members appointed by the Dean of Harpur College, Sharon Brehm. There is one facul ty member from the following six interdisciplinary programs: Mricana Studies, Asian and Asian-American Studies, Judaic Stud­ies, LACAS, MEN A, and Women 's Studies.

Why are these the onJy areas deemed worthy of diversity expertise? There are certainJy plenty of professors experi­enced in teaching diversity courses who do not belong to one of these depart­ments. These faculty members are onJy eligible for the three additional faculty slots on the committee. There is also a position for a member of the office of the Dean.

Students have the remaining six spots on the committee. The SA Academic Vice President, Jeff Golant, recom­mended three of the positions. Yumeris Morel, the SA Vice President for Multicultural Affairs, named two addi­tional students from the Intercultural Awareness Committee. The final student position was filled by a teaching gradu­ate student from Harpur College.

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Thus far, the committee has met onJy twice and no decisions have been made except the election of the chairman, Pro­fessor Donald Weiss of the Department of Philosophy. Weiss, along with col­league Stephen Ross, is the author of the diversity requirement. The decisions made by the committee must be accepted by the full HCC before becoming final .

Golant voted against the requirement as a Newing Community representative last year, stating that he "felt that the amount of consultation with students over an issue that directly affects them was lacking." He is dissatisfied with the Implementation Committee as well, say­ing that these issues should be addressed by the Educational and Planning Poli­cies Commission and the Curriculum Committee, as would be the case with other requirements.

In contrast, Morel strongly supports the requirement. " It was a relief to fi­nally get the diversity requirement passed after two years," she said. "Hope­fully, the committee will do the right thing."

What is the right thing? Some people believe this requirement

should not be imposed on students at all. They believe the requirement has noth-

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October. 1995

ing to do with diversity. but is really a study in oppression. It is admittedly dif­ficult to teach diversity without address­ing oppression. but oppression is not the only issue central to diversity. It is easy to see how the requirement. based on its wording, might be interpreted as an op­pression requirement. One section states: "In the sense of diversity here intended, such courses consider as cen­tral issues: the inequalities of power, the nature of oppression, and relations of dominance among various groups of people, as well as resistances to these structures. "

Professor Melvin Shefftz of the De-

News

partment of History, an opponent of the requirement does not believe that stu­dents should be required to take diver­sity courses. "They call it a diversity re­quirement?" Shefftz said. "That's phony' It's an oppression requirement."

The fate of the diversity requirement is unknown. If the recommendations of the Implementation C.ommittee fail, the requirement could be held up for years. What course will qualify for the require­ment is unknown, as well. It could very well end up as an oppression require­ment, as detractors have long asserted.

Most importantly, it is also conceiv­able that one would graduate from BU

Binghamton Review 11

and have not learned anything about cul­tures different from their own. If stu­dents stay with courses from their own background (Le. Latin and Caribbean Americans taking only LACAS courses to fulfill the requirement), the only in­dividuals forced to learn about other cultures will be white Christian males.

And that, say diversity requirement opponents, may have been the intention from the very beginning.

Amy L. Gardner is a junior majoring in Politics, Philosophy. and Law. She is the Executive Director of the First Amend­ment Coalition.

Why Have a Diversity Requirement? Editor :s- Note: The following statement was delivered to the February 8, 1995 meeting of the Harpur College Council (BCC) by Professor Allan Arkush, the representative for the Judaic Studies Program.

"I want to take a few minutes to re­view what I think is the central issue that has emerged in our debate on D2 [the diversity requirement proposal which preceded the current requirement] up to this point-and I want to do so especially for the benefit of the new council members, who have arrived in the middle of things. It won't take me too long. Appearances perhaps to the contrary, this debate really has been go­ing on for only a fairly short time. The proponents of D2, for tactical reasons of their own, delayed introducing their proposal until very late in the fall se­mester. Today's session will be only the fourth devoted [to] this highly impor­tant matter.

"Professor [Kelvin] Santiago [repre­sentative for the Department of Sociol­ogy] and Mr. [Yusef) Daughtrey [ acc representative and vice president for multicultural affairs] introduced D2 at our November 16th meeting. They did

so without any comprehensive elucida­tion of its purpose, without indeed a word of explanation. They just dropped it in our laps. This is presumably what promptedMr. [Michael] Conlon's [rep­resentative for the Department of En­glish] friendly request on December 7 for some sort of written statement that would amplify the first part of the pro­posal and explain in greater detail its academic purpose. The proponents ofD2 ignored this request. It was reiterated last week by two other members of this council. I wonder whether there will be any response to it today.

"In the absence of any official state­ment of D2's purpose. we have been force to rely on what we can pry out of its proponents here in council meetings and in places like Pipe Dream. What I take, after listening to them, to be the central argument for D2 has been made here principally by Professor Santiago. When Professor [Warren] Wagar [rep­resentative for the Department of His­tory] suggested the establishment of a Hegemonic Culture requirement that would enable students to understand the admittedly obtuse thinking of people on the right wing of the political spectrum, Professor Santiago declared such a re-

quirement to be superfluous. If it weren't for the fact that the current curriculum is already dominated by the hegemonic culture, he said, there would be no need for a diversity requirement.

"What do they mean by this? Can Pr0-fessor Santiago or any of his associates prove that the 'hegemonic culture' dominates the curriculum, or at least try to substantiate his claim? Mr. Cohen, who is no longer a member of this coun­cil, tried to get them to do this in De­cember, but failed. I asked them to do so last week, and Professor Santiago was, I am afraid, less than forthcoming in his response. Fortunately, however, the other co-sponsor of D2 has risen to the challenge ... Mr. Daughtrey has tried to argue that the existing curriculum is just as political as D2, and therefore stands in need of correction by a con­trary requirement But is this really true?

"On the basis of rather dubious evi­dence, which you can examine for your­selves, Mr. Daughtrey makes the follow­ing assertion: 'This requirement [02] is no more political than the current cur­riculum which we are forced to study."

"But what is anyone in Harpur Col­lege 'forced to study'?

"Every student must fulfill certain all-

12 Binghamton Review

college requirements. Apart from re­quirements in science, mathematics, physical education, and writing, which are not of any political relevance, there are three other requirements:

• 1\vo courses in the humanities. • 1\vo courses in the social sciences. • An additional four liberal arts

courses chosen from the two divisions other than the division of the student's major department. According to the catalog, 'interdisciplinary courses may be included among these four courses if they are cross-listed with a division not encompassing the student's major. '

"The information packet distributed at the Diversity Teach-In in October, 1994 and published in Pipe Dream in­cludes 101 courses from the division of humanities that could meet the 02 re­quirement. It also includes 112 02-ap­proved courses from the social sciences and 85. 02-approved interdisciplinary courses.

"Conclusion: The all~nege distnbu­tion requirements do not 'force' anyone to take courses embodying the ideology of the 'hegemonic culture'. All such re­quirements can easily be fulfilled by se­lecting courses drawn from the very long list of 02-approved courses.

"But every student must have at least

News

one major. What about the major re­quirements? What do they force students to take?

"Each major is, of course, different. But it is worth noting, first of all, that everyone majoring in one of the depart­ments in the division of science and mathematics can fulfill all of his or her major requirements without taking any courses in the social sciences or humani­ties that lack 02 approval. But what about majors in the social sciences and

humanities and in interdisciplinary de­partments and programs? The follow­ing is a partial list of departments in these divisions. It specifies the number of courses not bearing the 02 stamp of approval that one would have to take in order to major in anyone of these areas:

• Sociology: 1 course in sociological method.

• Anthropology: 1 or 2 courses, de­pending on one's concentration. (This applies only to Track 2. Track 1 is a much more 'carefully defined and se­quenced program' in general anthropol­ogy).

• History: No courses. • Political Science: No courses. • Afro-American and African Stud­

ies: No courses. • English, General Literature, and

Rhetoric: (Specialization in Literature and the English Language) 9 courses.

• Latin American and Caribbean Area Studies: No courses.

• Economics (BADegree): 7 courses. "Conclusion: One can earn a BA from

Harpur College in anyone of a large number of fields without being forced

October, 1995

to study the 'hegemonic culture' at all. In most departments, one can fulfill one's major requirements entirely or al­most entirely through courses that are either found on the D2 list or are from outside the social sciences or htpnani­ties. English and economics seem to pose special problems. But, of course, no one is being forced to major in En­glish or economics.

"In short, 02 represents an attempt to rectify an imbalance in our curricu-

lum that does not exist at all. "If, however, D2 is adopted, an im­

balance will be created Students will be required to take courses critical of the 'hegemonic culture'. Courses in the 'hegemonic culture' itself will be, in effect, optional and easily avoidable. 02 will thus introduce an unprecedented bias into our curriculum. The only way to rectify this imbalance would then be to institute Professor Wagar's 'Hegemonic Culture' requirement, something which I personally would prefer not to have to do. I think that we're far better off leaving things to stu­dents' . free choice than we would be if we introduced a two-track scheme ofpo­Iiticized requirements."

[Editor s note: In response to Projessor Arkush s statement, Projessor Santiago claimed to be personally insulted and promised to deliver a written response at the next meeting. The response was never delivered nor placed in the record. Thus, the HCC voted in a diversity re­quirement without any demonstration of its need.}

October, 1995 News Binghamton Review 13

Student Assembly Elections Delayed

8 r years, the process of electing students to serve on the Student Assembly and the Harpur College

Council has involved rule-breaking, mud-slinging, petty politics, complaints, and judicial board charges. This year, most people expected business as usual. They got quite a surprise on Tuesday, September 19-the day before the an­ticipated elections-when S.A. Execu­tive Vice President Dave Siegel an­nounced that elections would be post­poned for three weeks, until October 11 and 12. Why the change? Well ...

In past years SA and HCC elections have been a mess. Most of our SA E­Board elections last year were invali­dated and had to be rerun. Numerous sources have that this mess occurred pri­marily because such items as the rules involving submission of letters -of-intent and the responsibility for publicizing and holding fair elections was in the hands of the communities. Things were not always done fairly.

No community has as questionable a record as Off-Campus College. For ex­ample, last year OCC had some open spots on the SA at the start of the spring semester. Nicole Folkes, last year's OCC Facilitator, was under the assumption that she could "appoint" people to the positions. Only after consultation with the SA Constitution and at least one SA E-board member did she realize that in order to elect representatives, elections have to be held. And these elections haven't always been quite by-the-book either.

An example occurred two years ago when OCC had a meeting to try to fill its vacant positions on the SA. Numer­ous candidates showed up at the meet­ing, including both Michael Darcy, fu­ture editor of Binghamton Review, and the future president of the Black Stu­dent Union, Wllliam Peake. All candi­dates were allowed to spCak. Sources say

By Joshua Trapani

that Mr. Darcy gave his speech, but Mr. Peake must have gotten nervous because he left the room. Yet as it turns out, Mr. Peake got a position and Mr. Darcy did not. Darcy was told he was "unquali­fied" for the job. Which seems fine un­til one considers that there were more open positions than there were candi­dates. Darcy, Peake, and any of the other candidates at that meeting therefore weren't running against each other­they were running unopposed. It would seem the people at OCC have long thought that refusing to give someone a student government position based on one's ideology is perfectly OK, no mat­ter how many more open positions there were than people interested in them. Rather an empty seat than a dissenting one.

All that is in the past. This year, Nicole Johnson is the OCC Facilitator. One potential OCC candidate for Hatpur College Council told me less than two days before the elections were supposed to take place that he had not yet heard when the elections were-even though the dates for the election had been fi­nalized almost two weeks previously. He hadn't even been notified as to whether his letter-of-intent had been received. His phone calls, voice messages, and notes to the

the S.A. Office Manager, Riva Rittberg, and copies circulated to each of the four S.A E-Board Members. Things were done carefully to prevent slip-ups, but the elections were not publicized.

On Monday, September 18, OCC can­didate Anthony Benardello attended the S.A. E-Board meeting in order to voice his complaints about the lack of infor­mation and publicity on the OCC elec­tions. He was at first told that it was OCC's responsibility, but after more dis­cussion told that the E-board would "take care of it". The next day an article appeared in Pipe Dream in which Aus­tin Graff voiced further complaints against OCC for not publicizing its elec­tions or giving its candidates ample time to campaign. OCC Facilitator Nicole Johnson was quoted as saying that she "feels it [campaigning] is not neces­sary". That same day, EVP Dave Siegel announced the three-week postpone­ment of the elections.

The next evening, the SA Elections Committee, co-chaired by Siegel and Marc Bloch, had its first meeting. The committee consisted of two representa­tives from Newing, one from Dickinson, three from Hinman (two voting), two from CIW, and Nicole Johnson from OCC, who left after fifteen minutes. The.

Facilitator re­garding the status of his letter-of-in­tent had gone unanswered. Some candi­dates for OCC positions, fearing their letters-of-in­tent would be "lost" , had them stamped and dated by

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14 Binghamton Review

community representatives who stayed were upset by the change, and more than one asked why such a postponement had been made. Siegel seemed reluctant to discuss specific complaints, and in fact would not. The community reps said they thought the problem was lack of interest, not lack of pUblicity. In addi­tion, there was a lack of information as to just what each position does. Com­munity representatives asked questions about what would happen to their elec­tions, still scheduled for the next two days. What would happen if someone running unopposed now had competi­tion? Would that be fair? Would some­one who lost a dorm election be allowed to run for SA in the later election? What about vacant positions? The committee discussed these and other possibilities and came up with what it felt were the most fair procedures.

Siegel stressed that these procedures, which some of the community represen­tatives said would be very inconvenient for both them and their current SA and HCC candidates-such as taking down all their campaign signs and putting them back up in two weeks, were only for this year. A standing committee would be set up to establish an orderly elections procedure for the future, and to eliminate conflicts between the S.A. constitution, area constitutions, and Bylaws I. Further, running S.A. and HCC elections through a central Elec­tions Committee is mandated by the SA Constitution.

Siegel also listed a set of procedures which he thought would make elections

News

more fair. For instance, allietters-of-in­tent would have to be brought to the S.A Office, thus the possibility of their be­ing "lost" is lessened. Ballot boxes will be manned by hired poll-sitters, but no poll-sitter will sit at a box in his or her own community-thus the possibility of stuffing ballot boxes is lessened. At night, the boxes would be brought to some central location to which as few people as possible have access. He h3lf­jokingly suggested bringing the boxes to his house, then more seriously sug­gested ULED headquarters. This would hopefully reduce the risk of tampering overnight. All of these have been the source of past grievances.

Siegel spoke about the constitution­ality of the postponement. While we now have an elections committee as the con­stitution mandates, putting the elections off until October violates the IS-day rule in the S.A. constitution-which states that elections must be held within the first fifteen days of class. Siegel said he believed holding elections fairly and es­tablishing the committee outweighed the IS-day rule, but in the future an effort would be made to conform to both rules. He acknowledged there were many com­plaints-he didn't want to name names or point fingers. Other sources in the S.A Office suggested that this postpone­ment of elections is being done to cover certain people's behinds. Certain com­munity leaders were not doing their jobs, and allusions were made to the acc Office. Some have alleged Siegel did it to cover his own behind-that he was threatened with impeachment.

October, 1995

This year, many people who were run­ning unopposed for important positions will now probably have competition. They are justifiably upset by this. Maybe balancing the competition with fairness is a reasonable trade. If these new pro­cedures can guarantee fair elections in areas where the words "fair" and "elec­tion" have never appeared in the same sentence before, in areas where a cer­tain ideology make one "unqualified" to serve on student government, then it seems to be worth it.

The Elections Committee is going to have a tough job this year. They are go­ing to have to be strict and unbending. They are going to have to impose tough guidelines and stick with them. Most of all, if they see violations, they are go­ing to have to expose, punish, and cor­rect them. If they can do this, maybe they can help fix a system that bas been badly flawed for years. S.A President Doug Boettner mentioned that while he was all for making the elections as fair as possible and giving people the greatest chance to get involved, he thought it was kind of upsetting that all these controls must be instituted, to the point where communities aren't even allowed to ac­cept their own letters-of-intent.

But unfortunately, as past experience has shown, it's very necessary. Whether this plan works or not remains to be seen. Perhaps it is best to be cautiously optimistic.

Joshua Trapani is a senior majoring in Geology. He is the copy editor ofBing­hamton Review.

B INGHAMTONREVIEW

Save your mind-,-p1Jlitto work

October, 1995 Analysis Binghamton Review IS

A Study of Textbook Bias

Conservatives have often charged that a bias is prevalent in the teaching of college courses as

illusttated in the texts chosen by instruc­tors. They have felt that a subversive attempt to sway students is obviously underway, considering the alleged lib­eral nature of college texts. As such, an objective study has been made at our own university bookstore. Randomly selected classes provided a brief analysis of the current intellectual faire offered by the University faculty.

History 103, Foundations of America, is being taught by graduate student Laurie Gagne. Robert Harris, also a graduate student, was originally slated to instruct the class, but received a teach­ing opportunity elsewhere. As such, Ms. Gagne did not choose the texts for this class.

There are six texts required for this basic freshman history course. At the time of the research done by this writer, only four were in stock. The texts cho­sen appear to be of a fairly objective nature; primary documents constitute the basis of the students' reading. The Pioneers, by James Fenimore Cooper, and Common Sense, by Thomas Paine, equally present the student with a sound, overall vieW of the events occurring in their respective times.

A primary reader, The World Turned Upside Down: Indian Voices From Early America, edited by Colin G. Calloway, provides a view of North American In­dian life. The editor appears to have a fairly moderate stance on the past; in his introduction, he states, "Just as Eu­ropean documents often presented a one­sided view of the past, so Indian speak­ers often portrayed Europeans as greedy and aggressive, while depicting them­selves as innocent victims." (p. VI). This is a decent interpretation of the interac­tion of the two groups .. The editor hasn't favored one group and denounced an-

By Teresa MCGoff

other, a practice which is far too com­mon in historical analysis today. The remaining text, American Issues. Volume I: A Primary Source Reader in U.S. History, edited by Irwin Unger, is also comprised of original documents, contplete with pro and con views of his­torieal events. Although the texts are of an objective nature, it will be up to the replacement instructor to present an equally objective viewpoint.

History 230, History of the Future, is being taught by Professor Warren Wagar. For this class, the students are required to purchase six books. The first, Ecotopia, by Ernest CaUenbach, is a novel. The main character, a federal agent, is sent to investigate a utopian society located on the western coast of the United States. This society is com­prised of many elements that would be recognized as left-wing; women are the dominant force in the community, mini­cities are in existence, the worship of trees supplants their religion. In addi­tion, individuals only work a twenty hour workweek, and all subscribe to the

prinCiple of free love. At the climax of the story, the protagonist is "kidnapped" (although his assailants do not refer to it as such), persuading him to recognize the error of his ways. Thus, our hero embarks upon the "right" decision, and ultimately decides to become a citizen in this unbalanced society. Professor Wagar is the author of two of the course's texts. The first, A Short History of the Future, is decidedly left­wing. This book is a "made-up" ver­sion of what the future might hold. Wagar describes a futuristic Soviet Union as such: "What prevailed then, in the allegedly socialist countries, was not socialism at all, but state capitalism. Whatever else it may have been, for bet­ter or worse, state capitalism was capi­talism." (p.14). The obvious message here is that no matter how you look at it, capitalism is responsible for all of the world's woes.

Wagar's second book, The Next Three Futures, is also overtly left-wing. In this text, Wagar basically analyzes the future of the Earth, as well as the future of war

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16 Binghnmton Review

and peace. Characteristically, his pre­dictions are overtly Marxist, as revealed in the following quote : "All this is ex­actly what radicals have long been pre­dicting. In their view. as the capitalist system matures, it runs into a wall of its own making, limits to growth that bring depressed incomes to all but the wealthy ... ln time large segments of the middle class will be pauperized and the newly poor. or their children, will even­tually sink into the working class, lend­ing added support to the forces that must one day smash the system." It makes one wonder if Professor Wagar's overriding preference for Marxism doesn't impair his ability to analyze the future .

The three remaining texts deal pri­marily with the role thatteclmology will play in the future. Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley, is a novel which ex­amines the effects of genetic engineer­ing and brainwashing. In this possible future. individualism is dead. resulting in a bankruptcy in society. The only character which displays individualis­tic traits is referred to as "The Savage" and is ultimately ostracized from this rigidly determined society. In this novel, technology is a force which is criticized for causing the deterioration of people as individual thinkers.

Fast Forward, by Richard Carlson and Bruce Goldman, and Preparing For The 21st Centllry, by Paul Kennedy, also deal with the impact of technology upon the future. These texts, recently pub­lished, appear to be overall accounts of how society will fare in an increasingly technological world.

The works of Alvin and Heidi Tomer are a glaring omission on Professor Wagar's syllabus. The Tomers claim to be left-of-<:enter and their books, Flltllre Shock and Third Wave , support tllese ideological assertions. Perhaps their as­sociation with Newt Gingrich has ren­dered them too reactionary for Profes­sor Wagar 's laste.

History 353, Society and Thought in the Modem United States, is being in­structed by Brian Crawford, a graduate student. There are five texts required for the course, three of which were avail-

Analysis October. 1995

I

able for review. T he firs t. Re­flections oj an 'i Affirmative Ac- ~ li on Baby, by -.; Stephen L. j

Carter, dea ls with a modern issue which is quite controver­sial, and there­fore worthy of discussion. Al­though the au­thor attempts to take a fairly ob­jective stance, he freely admits

All of these books would be valuable to a University COllrse, bllt they do not appear on any syllablls

that he, as a professor in a law school, looks for reasons to admit applicants who are of the same ethnicity as him. At the very least, Carter admits that he does favor minorities. Nonetheless, this practice is not fair to anyone, including the minorities who have gained admit­tance only due to their skin color.

The ne,1 book, Making a Ne w Deal: Indllstrial Workers in Chicago, 1919-1939, by Lizabeth Cohen, deals prima­rily with the working class and their "struggle" throughout history. This tex1 is obviously very labor oriented, and therefore tends to be one-sided. Cohen states that, "At even the most basic level of job security, welfare capita lists sbowed themselves to be untrustworthy. " (p.240). This is quite an assumption for the author to make, branding a whole group of people as "untrustworthy" ; a fact which is quite difficult to prove.

The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test , by Tom Wolfe, is a description of the ex­ploits of a group of hippies known as "The Pranksters." TIleir leader, Timo­thy Leary, is best known for his serving acid-spiked Kool-Aid to various people, as indicated in the title of the book. The book is an account of the lifestyle of the counterculture in the 1960's. Although this is a valid topic for discussion in this course, one does wonder whether the lifestyle ofa small segment of the popu­lation in the 1960 's will be presented as mainstream, or as a counterculture, as

it truly was. Anthropology 363, The Anthropology

of Developing Nations, is taught by Pro­fessor Michael Horowitz. There are five books available for purchase in this class, four of which were in stock at the time of this review.

Green Development: Environment and Sustainability in the Third World, by W.M. Adams, is a tex1 which pre­sents the environnlental aspect of the de­velopment of third-world countries. In­terestingly enough, poor people are em­powered by enviromnenlal development, as the author slates, "At its heart, 'green­ing' development involves not just a pursuit of ecological guidelines and new planning structures, but an attempt to redirect change to maintain or enhance the power of the poor to survive without hindrance and to dirccttheir own lives." (p. 202) . The logical conclusion is that environmentalism can be assessed as a force which can be used by the poor to elevate thei r living conditions.

The next text, Development and Un­derdevelopment in Historical Perspec­tive, by Gavin Kitching, also appears to attach left-wing philosophies to devel­oping nations. This book investigates neo-populist movements in Tazina and China . Once again, the perspective given to interpreting the historical framework of developing nations is defi­nitely of a Marxist nature.

The course also requires the purchase

October. 1995

of rl l)1'ld IJel'e /opmenl R eport 1995: fl cwkers in aI/integrating World. This is just a yearly publication comprised mostly of the reporting and interpreta­tion of da!.1 . As long as the students arc permitted to draw their own conclusions of the statistics. it is a valid te~1 .

The last te.xt available for review. Rural Developmen t ill lite Third frorld. b!' Chris Dixon. also structures society along primarily economi c

Analysis

cates that Reagan. Bush. and Clinton have become O\"crly co ncerned with America"s role as a global power. result­ing in the domestic deteriorat ion of our country. The authors stale. " In an era of deregulation and finan cial profiteering. care for the elderly plunged 10 \c,'cls reminiscent of the early decades of the last centur)".·· (p.77). The authors clearlv jump to an ill-gotten conclusion thai de-

Bingham/em R ellieu' 17

nnd James B. Steele. and /n vc'l1ling Re­ali ly : The' /'otitics (~/ .vC' II'S ,\ ledia. nrc equally dominated b~' liberal philoso­phies. The wrilers of the first text blame as what they pcrceiy(' the horri ble con­dition of America on unca ring capital­ists.

This study suggests lhat there is in­deed a leftist slant to man\" of the classes taughl at this Universitv. The lextbooks

terms. There is a chapter deal­ing with the ad"ocation of the redistribution of resources. Once again. the third world . ~ is divided in terms of wealth. :1l

Sociology 277. Wealth . ~ I.'." .... ~,.~ Power. and' Poverty in the j United States. is instructed by Professor James Petras. The six texts required for the course are all remarkably slanted to the left . lea"ing ab­solutely no room for dissent­ing viewpoints.

• • •

: . •• ~~,""i"\t<llfl:lii, a- •

'·O'IIU~ .. \\{r1lP.\'n:. CJI - •

-.

The first. 111e Assassina­lion 0/ New lark, by Robert Fitch. is overtly biased. On the inside Oap of the text. the review states, "Their (finan­cial and rea!-estate elite) goals have been simple and mono­lithic- to increase the value of the land they own by ex­truding low-rent workers and factories. replacing them with high-rent professionals and office build!ngs.·· This propa-ganda is perpetrated throughout the book . Unsurprisingly. the author be­lieves that an evil class of elites exists only to defraud poor working people of their livelihood and working space.

The second text, r aria/ions 011 a Theme Park: The New American Cily and Ihe End 0/ Public Space. by Michael Sorking. also maintains the opinion that making money is wrong . One idea for­warded. "Pioneering For Profit'· (p.79) clearly implies that profiteering is ethi­cally wrong. Empire or Republic: American Global Power and Domestic Decay. by James Petras (the instructor of the course) and Morris Morley. advo-

-0

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r;,._...:.::B~L.( K 'IMINIS! TNOUGHT

( \\ \1 \\ \ ... _

This selection afhonks is representative of the intellectual [are served up hy educators at Binghamton Universi(v this semester

regulation and financial profiteering are responsible for the ignorance of the plight of the elderly. How can this be proven') No matter. they don 't bother to discounl other possibi lities.

The next text. Who Rules America No w?:;1 I'iell' /or Ihe 80 s. by G. Will­iam Domholf. is also comprised of lib­eral half-truths. The classic Marxist con­cepts of "ruling class". and "workers" are widely exploited, The text ob"iousl!' blames our current stateofalTairs on the 1980's. the decade of greed and wealth (as they see it).

The remaining two texts . .-Im erica: IIlwl INmlll ivng? by Donald L. Barlett

that various instructors have selected are far from objective: instead. the books seem to have been chosen to validate an instmctor 's own opinions. As such. there is not a wide range of opinions a"ai l­able in the books reviewed. Only two books in tbe entire bookstore were aligned with conservative/libertarian ideololl" : Free Ii) Choose. by Milton and Rose Friedman. and Diplumacy. by Henry Kissenger. were the sum tOlal of the opposition to the preva lent liberal texts.

Teresa ,\ /'Gof/ is Ihe Seniol' I':elilor 0/ Binghamton Reyiew.

18 Binghamton Review

A young man lay in the green grass basking in the early Oc tober sun and reading lazily on

day in 2131 . He often stared posessivcly at the early post-modern brick buildings which surrounded him. " 1 made it," he thought with self-congratulatory smug­ness though he was still scarccly able to believe that he was here, at a university studying what he wished, and beyond the reach of all the commissions, boards. and bureaucrats which had hitherto gov­erned his life.

"They named me right," he thought as he took off his sunglasses and rubbed his eyes. His name. Keilka, meant ' the cunning one, ' and he had used every bit

Utustraiioo Joanna P, taki

Sei-Fi Serial

Keilka By Dawn M'Kibbin

of gilllc to wheedle his way into being allowed to attend a university. He took one last appreciative look about, tlus once wi thout the ever present shades, as he ran his fi ngers through his fine , straight, raven hair. stretched his long, lithe form and lay down to doze.

Keilka awoke to the sound of shout­ing in the distancc. The suddenness and volume of the disturbance had tapped some deep instinct, and the young man found himself looking about warily witil his body fully braced for a fight. Realiz­ing his situation- this was just one of the incessa nt s tudent protests-he placed his hand over his eyes, took a deep breath and forced himself to relax

October, 1995

as he fumbled about in the grass for his glasses. Luckily, no one had seen him without them, and the sun had fallen buildings leavfng his overly sensitive eyes in tile shade.

He tried to resume reading, but the protesters were nearly upon him, and their noise made it impossible to con­centrate. At least they weren 't after him, he thought. He had been quite scrupu­lous in concealing his identity, though having to do so disgusted him. Keilka watched in both bemusement and amusement as the whole cavalcade with its chants and bad altitude and mis­spelled signs marched past him. Then he went back to his studies. He assUI-

October, 1995

edly did not care about campus politics with its in-groups and out-groups and victims-in-need-of-sympathy groups. So long as everyone let him alone, he would return the favor.

The young man sat reading with re­newed concentration for some time, but finally hunger and thirst distracted him. He gathered up his things and ambled off toward the Union where he saw knots and gaggles of protesters standing in front of the doors. Someone was trying to organize a human chain about the building, but the throng seemed unable to respond to any attempts at coordina­tion. Keilka shrugged and plunged into the milling crowd which stood between him and the doors. Just as he thought he might make it to his goal, he felt some one tugging at the back of his shirt.

Keilka turned to face a white, nose­ringed woman carrying a placard stat­ing that the whole university with its bureaucracy and concessionaires was a racist, sexist, oppressive structure. The woman heatedly reinterated her sign's message and chided him so vigorously that even the ends of her dreadlocks seemed to wiggle in disapprobation.

Keilka merely shrugged and coolly re­plied that he hadn't any evidence of their allegation and that they should not make the mistake of thinking the bureaucrats racist and sexist when they were merely being their normal incompetent selves. He then turned toward the door, but she quickly pl~ced herself in front of him. Again, to his annoyance, she lectured him, but as thirsty as he was, Keilka was loath to resort to violence, even though he could have picked her up and put her aside without the least exertion.

Unaware of the true nature of the taIl, thin-faced, beardless man standing in front of her, the woman continued to talk at Kei1ka. For his part, Keilka main­tained his usual calm demeanor al­though he did not agree with her. The woman grew disgusted and eventually snapped, "You show exactly what we mean when we say white men will never be able to understand oppression."

Keilka tried hard tt) maintain a tight-

Sel-O Serial

lipped, wry smile, but this quickly ex­ploded into outright laughter which re­vealed his small, pointed teeth and two long, dagger-sharp upper canines.

"Breeder'" the woman gasped instinc­tively in a voice tinged with not a little bit of fear and loathing. There were not may of the so-called "extra-humans" so it was quite a shock to meet one of them face to face.

"That wasn't very nice," Keilka re­plied without loosing his normal cold­ness or letting his native cynicism have free reign. He would not be drawn into any sort of a fight with a human-it was always quite useless to point out their own contradictions and it only rein­forced the thinking that his people were only what they had been bred for: the Last Great War. He stepped around the woman, and she, perhaps repentant for her words, troubled him no more that day ...

Editor s Note: Binghamton Review is pleased to announce that we will be run­ning "KeUka" as a serial throughout the year. The author, Dawn McKibbin. holds a Masters Degree in Political Science from Binghamton University and cur­rently resides in Jackson. Wyoming. where she writes and works as a layout artist for a local newspaper.

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211 Htngha1l1fol'l I?eviell ' Colonm October. 1995

How to Protest Effectively: A Basic Primer

Student protests are a long-stand ing tradition that hayc existed as long as there have been students

\\ ith something 10 complain about. It is generall )' accepted that the lirst student protest occurred about 2900 B.C.-dur­ing Egypt 's second dynasty Apparently. a II umber of students had grown weary or the Illnited curriculum in thei r his­to" department- which consisted pri­maril)' of the stud~ ' of Egypt"s first dy­nas ly. To promote their cause. the stu­dents dove into the Nile Ri,·er. intend­ing to form a human chain thai would block all eommcrcia l boating traffi c. Unfortunatel)·. the students failed to take into account that this was the time of )ear the Nile flooded. The students were quickly washed into the Mediterranean Sea and not heard from again . The lo­ca l lIni\ ·c rsit ~· resumed its intensive stud)' of the first dynast'· of E/,'ypt and thlngs went on pretty mllch as before .

Not much has changed in the ncarl)' IiYe thousand years since that fateful day. Students are still protesting- with simi­lar resuits more often than not. One need only consider e, 'ents that transpired at Rutgers University. New Jersey. this pas t )·ear. When it was revealed that uniyer­si t), president Francis Lawrence made a comment relating SAT test scores and racer. students staged a series of dem­onstrations demanding his resignation. In a short period of time. these protests resulted in an exp:mential increase in publicit)' which coincided with an ex­ponentia l decrease in public support for their cause.

The students first act of brill iance was to force the postponement of a Rutgers basketball game by staging a sit-in on the court midway through a game with Massachusetts. This was the lirst indication that these were not go­ing to be a well-run series of demon­strations. As these students took over the b.1sketball court. nearly 8500 people in

the stands began to shout: "We want hoops!" Having that many people turn against )'ou in your debut is most deli­nitely not a good way to build a poSitive groundswell of support . Thus. the First Rule of Protest: Stage your initial ac­tions directly at the person or persons in a position to negotiate with you. Do not incom'cn icncc those who ca nnot

Sharper Image

Gordon Sharpless

help you. The students continued to stage small

protests and rallies around campus. Ral­lies are a great way to get )'our demands heard without violating the First Rule. Several bus loads of students then went to Trenton. New Jersey. to meet \vith Governor Chri stine Todd Whitman and present her wi th a list of demands. In addition to their initi a l request for Lawrence's head on a platter. the stu­dents also demanded tuition cuts and the abolition of SAT scores as an entrance requirement. They subsequently added curriculum changes to thei r list. They

got nothing. Thus. the Second Rule of Protest: Do not increase your demands. Stick with yO\tr original request and don 't get greedy.

But the greatest debacle at Rutgers­perhaps the greatest debacle in the an­nals of modern-day demonstrations­occurred when the students blocked the intersection of Route 18 and US . Route I in New Brunswick, resuiting in a traf­fic jam of epic proportions. There is nothing of this magnitude in Broome County- the Johnson City circle is pea­nuts by comparison. This screw-up be­ca me the topic of talk -radio shows throughout the state and public opinion of the protesters feU straight down the toi let. Several people suggested capital punishment as an appropriate punish­ment. Thus. the Third Rule of Protest: Unless your goal is to increase air pol­lution. wastc natural resourccs. and urge the public to completely di sregard their personal responsibilities. never, ever. ever. pull a stunt like blocking major traffic arteries. You will receive more publicity than you bargained for- and none of it will be good.

That little highway gathering in es­sence marked the end of the Rutgers situation. This was unfortunate. not be­cause the students lost their light. but because the)' did not have the opportu­nity to make a number of other mistakes.

Fortunately. a number of students at our very own Binghamton University pulled a few Rutgers-type stunts oftheir own last year. They have been well pub­licized in these pages, so I'll go straight to the rules. Rule Four: Do not involve children. especially the children of your target. Rule Five: Don't throw snowballs at him ei ther. Let your parents come and throw snowballs at the governor. espe­cially if they ' re the ones paying for your tuition.

An additional rule to consider: Do not take over administration buildings on

October, 1995

Fridays. You may expect a long and lonely weekend. The official whose of­fice you invaded will either be at home or enjoying a weekend outing camping in U,e CatskiUs. You and your buddies, on the other hand, will be holed up in an office without food, water, and did someone say something about needing to usc a bathroom? Think about these practicalities before laying siege to a university building.

On a positive note, I do believe a march can be an effective means of drawing attention to your cause without violating the above rules. It's also good exercise. I highly recommend carrying a sign with you, preferably one with writing on it. Be sure to use proper spell­ing, grammar, and punctuation. You are in college, remember?

Column

The constfllction of your sign is very important. If possible, usc water-resis­tant materials. That way, if it rains­instant umbrella. After the march, if it is winter- instant sled. A sturdy handle will make an excellent steering mecha­nism.

One last bit of advice: Give serious thought to getting arrested, especially when the protest concerns something that probably won 't matter to you in 5 to 10 years. In the eyes of the Broome County authorities, you will not be some college student exercising his or her rights in a moment of self-discovery and inner gro\\1h-you will be a criminal and treated as such. Consider that you will be reminded of this youthful indis­cretion every time you fill out a job ap­plication.

Bingham/on Review 21

Now that a number of rules have been presented to facilitate successful cam­pus demonstrations, perhaps we should find a cause. Better yet, we can stage a demonstration with no cause whatso­ever. Perhaps we can march around cam­pus with blank signs, shouting: "What do we want? Nothing! When do we want it? Now!" We can present university of­ficials with blank pieces of paper which outline these very specific demands. We could block the entrance to a mainte­nance shed or take over the campus pub.

Has anyone given thought to the de­plorable situation we have concerning available parking for commu ters? Hmmm ...

Gordon Sharpless is a graduale sludent majoring in Art lfislory

Non-PC Halloween Costumes

This is a person who practices alternate property rights in a

marine paradigm. Usually physically challenged or visually different. May not be trivialized.

Other Forbidden Costumes:

Ghost: Makes fun of the terminally inconvenienced.

Soldier: Glorifies war. Buffalo Soldier acceptable.

Gypsy: Trivializes those of nomadic culture . They cannot lobby effectively against this.

Bill Clinton: Flawed-but still not allowed to be mocked.

Multiculturalist: It might hurt their feelings.

This is a not a member of the Womyn's Center, but a persyn who practices alternative reli­

gion. May not be marginalized symbolically in any way.

Be PC! Dress as a White, Heterosexual, Christian Male! A public service message from the Task Force to Stifle Independent Thought-We Care!

22 Binghamton Review Letters

Why do We Fail to Look Beyond the Shadows in the Cave?

It has been 10 months since I last wrote about the decimation of the qual­ity of SUNY-Binghamton in Pipe Dream. I detailed some of my concerns in the piece, although the editors sur­reptitiously changed the title from SUNY-Binghamton Burns as We All Fiddle to the comparatively sterile Qual­ity of Binghamton U. Declining. This time, I wi)). suggest solutions for the ail-ingSUNY-B. "

The first point to be reiterated is that the students at Binghamton are not get­ting a "big bang for their buck" as ubiq: uitous college guides and conniving university administrators suggest. In­stead, we are getting a "whimper". Class sizes continue to increase and graduate students teach more courses than ever before. Is this Lois DeFleur's idea of in­novation? Innovation requires leader­ship and informed decision making, not gimmickry like new signs and new sta­tionary. Someone, in the tradition of Harry S Truman, must say that "the buck stops here" and make the necessary pro­grammatic cuts, instead of spreading slow and agonizing pain throughout the university. What the present administra­tion has done is akin to a slow poison­ing by arsenic. The university adminis­trators must decide whether they want to focus on graduate or undergraduate education. Given the declining economy of the state, the government of New York lacks both the resources and political will to excel at both levels. Sententious­ness aside, it is always better to be a master of one trade than a jack-of-all trades.

The second point that I'd like to fo­cus my energy on is misdirected student activism. In my December piece, I said that many student groups employ a lib­eral clone mentality and maintain that low tuition is their primary objective instead of programmatic improvements. Universities simply cannot operate with­out faculty members. We need an infu­sion offresh blood into the system. Fac­ulty members should be the last resource

that we cut. Student organizations should work with the administration so that certain programs are improved or maintained. This would involve the uni­versity operating as a private institution in a free and open marketplace.

The decline" of the" university can be alleviated by becoming integrated iJtto the marketplace. This would entail: " • Working closely with the private sec­

tor to decide what courses provide bet­ter opportunities for students.

• All departments should be required to report their marketplace value to the administration. In other words, they must identify the utility they provide to the marketplace.

• The Board of Trustees should con­tract out managerial and administrative functions--such as financial aid, student accounts, and the office of the presi­dent-through a System of competitive bidding, one subject to review and con­tract.

By the way, the Financial Aid Office should be the first in the pilot studies of privatization efforts because they seem to have mastered the art of creating ul­cers in students.

It has been my observation that the university administration suffers from cronyism. When was the last senior ad­ministrator promoted from within the university? How can one justify the present gynecocracy except through partron-client politics?

Let me conclude by saying that the university is in serious trouble. Under­standing how it got to this point is a step forward in solving the problems, but it is important for the university to try new approaches. We should keeP the follow­ing in mind: Those who continue to cling to antiquated appr~hes in a new era are likely to continue to suffer from the harsh blast of changing times. It is past time for the university community to wake up.

Robert W. Comp.ton, Jr. Ph.D. Candidate

Department of Political Science

October, 1995

BINGHAMTON REVIEW

MEETINGS

THURSDAYS 7:30 P.M.

UU-I03

WRITERS, ARTISfS,

PHOTOGRAPHERS, AND

SALESPEOPLE NEEDED

October, 1995

Not Bill, Not Chelsea

Off-and-on President Hillary Rodham Clinton says that contact lenses are "the best thing that ever happened to me." [New York Post, August 5, 1995]

Socializing Passivity?

A 6-year-old girl recently stabbeda 7-year-old playmate in the back with a steak knife during a fight over Barbie Dolls. [Press&Sun-Bulletin, September 20, 1995]

PC Courses

Brown University offers "Circumcision: Male and Female, Jewish and Gentile"; "Iron Johns: Power, Pain, and Vio­lence"; and "Disney: Uncle Walt and the FBI" among its list of Ivy League classes. [Washington Times, September 16, 1995]

Whoops!

Seen in the New Yorker: "Editor's Note ... In criticizing the political views of Patrick Buchanan, Mr. [Bill] Bennett said, 'It's a real us-and-them kind of thing,' not, as we reported, 'It's a real S&M kind of thing.'" [Human Events, September 1, 1995] ,

Pere-strike-a

The boorish Vladimir Zhirinovsky re­cently got in a fistfight with Yevgenia Tishkovskaya, a female member of the Russian parliament. She got in a right hook; he responded by grabbing her throat. [Washington Times, September 16, 1995]

Sayve Publik Skools!

New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani was assailed by a crowd of college stu­dents who misspelled his name, ''tiution'', and "priorty" in another stir­ring rally intended to prove the SUNY s deserve more support. [The American Enterprise, September; 1995]

Quibbles 4 Bits

Short Political Test

Sam Brownback, a Republican represen­tative from Kansas, sums up the differ­ences between liberals and conserva­tives: "Do you agree with Sonny-or Cher?" [The American Enterprise, July/ Aug~ 1995]

PC ilacklash

A released assistant. stage director has filed suit against the' Metropolitan 0p­era of New York City, claiming she:was fired because she is not a homosexual man. [Reason, July/August, 1995]

No Bias Here

Two cops in Grand Central Station grabbed black bus~essman Earl Graves and frisked him. They had been alerted to an armed 5' 10" black man with a moustache. Graves, is 6'4" and clean shaven. [Reason, July/August, 199~]

No Liberal Media Bias, Either

While reporting on the Susan Smith murder trial, Newsweek reporters made sure to mention that Smith's abusive stepfather Beverly Russell was "active in the Republican Party and the Chris­tian Coalition". [Notable Quotables, July 31, 1995]

Binghamton Review 23

Babs Babbles

On Larry King Live, Barbra Streisand said she was "tired of...[this] antigov­ernment rhetoric" and expressed her disappointment that people are shying away from liberalism. [TV, etc. ~ July, 1995]

Magnum, GOP?

Tom Selleck on Streisand: "I like Barbra a lot, but she ought to shut up about [her liberalism] .. '.Hollywood is so intolerant of other points of view." [Tv, etc., Au­gust, 1995]

We Hate Government?

James Nichols, friend and brother to the accused Oklahoma City bombers, has complained to his state representative that he is owed more than the $36,522 he has been paid in farm subsidies by the federal government over the years [TheAmerican Enterprise, July/August, 1995]

Capitalism Rules

The entire 10th precinct of the Moscow police force has been suspen~ for pan­dering. The officers had repo~y bee~. driving hookers to their clients. [Rea-, son, August/September, 1995.]' . '

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