European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - June 5, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10 the stars and stripes columns Ellen Goodman women Are victims of rules they did no to write Boston a the Lush Green Campus was redolent with Rhoden Derums and groomed within an Inch of its life. Any ruffled feelings had been excised like crab grass from the College Lawn. The Wellesley controversy the Wellesley Flap the Story that would not die took commencement Day off. Indeed the conflict that had threatened to drown the class of 1990 was absorbed like a single Raindrop in the Bright june Sunshine. This was the Day for diplomas and detente. Between capitalists and communists Between students and first ladies Between Barbara Bush and Raisa Gorbachev. And in the end it would be remembered not for what was said but for who said it. Speaking for the . Was mrs. Bush delivering a deftly recycled a a listening speech. The Only hint of a rejoinder to the Young women were in her remarks about a too Little tolerance for people who did no to fit the stereotypes of women. The old ones or the new. Speaking for the . Was mrs. Gorbachev with a text surely drafted by the Central committee. Talking about women so special Mission a she said a always even in the most cruel and terrible times women have had the Mission of peacemaking humaneness mercy and  the woman sounded More like Mother Russia than is. Perestroika. The two women said More with body language a a guiding hand on a Back a Friendly grasp a than with words. It was enough to be there together. As for the students those who had objected to the Choice of a spouse As speaker wore their protest primly. Purple armbands honoured the a unknown women who have dedicated their lives to the service of  but i  leave this bucolic bilingual scene without one last word on the reams of copy and reels of videotape that were filled with the controversy Over Barbara Bush As role Model. For the past month i have devised a list of reasons Why this Story took on a life of its own. In one Way or another it seems to me that the Wellesley tale fit everybody a favorite a a take on the debate Over women a roles. It cast this Issue As a controversy of by and Between women a single sex debate that had nothing to do with men. The Wellesley Story fit the most popu Jim Fain Lar scenario of social change see these Young uppity women trashing the older virtuous women. More to the Point it reinforced our favorite image that this is a fight dare i say a cat fight a Between the ceo and the Mommy the woman at Home and at the office. The men Are not Only being left out of this great debate. They Are being let off the Hook. Women do take these issues More seriously More personally. This is a moment in social change when half the mothers of preschoolers Are in the work Force and half Are at Home. Those at Home feel vulnerable to charges of brain neglect that All they worry about is waxy yellow buildup on the linoleum. Those at work feel vulnerable to charges of child neglect Are you sure the baby Sitter Isnit a child abuser it has become easier to blame the a other women for those feelings. To blame the other Mother for feelings of Inadequacy rather than a husband or an amorphous  in Newsweek a full Page piece was written about Mommy is Mommy without recording a single male voice. But i submit that its at least As Likely to be a Man at a dinner who turns away in disinterest when he finds out your Job title is Mother. Its at least As Likely to be a husband father or male coworker who intimates that the kids might be happier smarter healthier if you were Home with them. It is most assuredly a menus Magazine Esquire that poses a the last american housewife hugging a toilet this month. And it is in Al likelihood a Man setting the corporate or Federal policy that exaggerates these conflicts. As Long As men Are exempt from this argument As Long As they remain a single sex seminar about women a options and women a decisions we Are going to stay stuck. So one other commencement note from the Wellesley class of 1990. Those Young protesters bashed for weeks by the press replaced their petition with a polite plea to the first lady. They asked her to speak up even to the first Man on behalf of an Agenda from parental leave to pay equity that would indeed make these choices easier. Not a bad thing for women to bring Back from their own separate Summit. We All could use a bit of perestroika. C Washington Post Bush must shift gears on pollution overpopulation Washington a beneath the hoop la the sum to Cut Britain a Carbon dioxide emissions by 30 percent. Present rate continues it then will redouble in 40 Mithers were merely sweeping up the cold War. Sketching a permanent map of Europe and drawing Down arms stockpiles was the useful work of saturdays Agenda. But events have so outraged politicians that such questions As German reunion and arms control now seem almost quaint. The twin spectres of overpopulation and a polluted planet Are the new enemy a one the weary superpowers so far refuse to face. The soviet Union and East Europe feel too broke. Vet they re the most polluted area on Earth. Communism a frantic industrialization poisoned their air and water. As for the United states we re notorious As the no. 1 stumbling Block to world wide cleanup. George Bush stalls each new initiative with Calls for More study. His performance mocks his pious claim to be an environmental president. Even Margaret Thatcher has broken with him on global warming. When a . Panel recently joined the scientific chorus warning that the atmosphere May heat by 5.4 degrees next Century she announced plans Bush says no the thing to do is form More committees. With the world looking eagerly to us for leadership we apply brakes. Its a sorry role for a country that with 5 percent of world population spews out 25 per cent of its greenhouse gases. Of the Root causes of pollution the hardest to combat is the sheer mass of humanity. On this score Bush like president Reagan before him is part of the problem a not the solution. When he began to woo the religious right he reversed All his Early positions on family planning. In 1970, he co sponsored an act to Aid birth control clinics. Now he cuts its budget. Last year he vetoed a Bill to resume funding a . Agency that supports birth control worldwide. The United states soon will join Western Europe in stabilizing population through a lowered birth rate. Africa latin America and some asian countries Are where the big growth will occur. The numbers Are scary. In the first 50 years of the Century total population went from 2 billion to a Little Over 3 billion. By 2000, it will be 6.2 billion. If the years. The experience of Italy France and other developed countries shows the trend can be reversed despite such Short sighted but Adamant opposition As that of the Catholic Church. Artificial birth control is As widely used in some Catholic countries As anywhere. Its a matter of education and making contraception available. Like Reagan Bush took his misguided positions on the basis that some birth control clinics offer abortion counsel and that China pursues forced abortion a charge the chinese deny. Its a dismal record matched Only by his reneging on pollution even to the Point of refusing $20 million in Aid to developing countries that phase out cd Cuncan known to destroy the Ozone layer. This is a key to poor nations who see themselves As penalized to damage caused largely by countries like ours. Ending the cold War is a glorious Victory for Mankind but it wont mean much unless we reverse coun and join an International crusade a through the uni de nations or some new Agency a to Rescue our Gran children from pollution and overpopulation. C Cox news service