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IF' IR 412:10M COLLEGE

Newspaper Used Poor Judgement

MICHAEL HARPAZ, SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS

The Michigan Daily has no
ll his fall, the Michigan
Daily student news- single party overseeing the
paper published a let- publication process. This means
ter to the editor titled the editors can publish one view
"Museum Lacks Evidence Of on the editorial page and the
Genocide."
business manager can publish
Written by revisionist the opposite view on the next
Bradley Smith, the letter ar- page. I am forced to wonder:
gued that the new Holocaust When it comes to editorial poli-
Memorial in Washington, D.C., cies, exactly how are decisions
provides insufficient evidence made?
of attempted genocide against
Mr. Dubow explains that the
the Jews.
Michigan Daily has "basic views
I believe that Mr. Smith's let- on some issues, like that we are
ter was blunt and disgusting, a pro-choice publication." The
but its anti-Semitic overtones Michigan Daily will not sign
were not — and should not — its name to any editorials
be of primary concern to stu- "degrading women or con-
dents, faculty and staff at the demning abortion," though it
University of Michigan.
will accept letters from others
Of primary concern to me is who do so.
the fact that the Michigan Dai-
The uproar on campus two
ly chose to publish the letter.
years ago, after the publication
Two years ago, on
Oct. 6, 1991, the Michi-
gan Daily received a
check for about $1,000
from the Committee for
Open Debate on the
Holocaust, which Mr.
Smith directs. The
check paid for an ad-
vertisement that
claimed: The Holocaust
never happened; the
disappearance of the
Jews had nothing to do
with so-called gas
chambers and so on.
The Michigan Daily
accepted the money and
ran the advertisement.
In fact, the newspaper
f.
allotted the entire back
page for Mr. Smith's
paid-for filth.
Many readers vehe-
mently
responded
against the ad. Later,
the Michigan Daily's Michael HarPaz
business manager ran
a one-paragraph apol-
ogy, confessing that the news- of Mr. Smith's advertisement,
paper should not have was tremendous. After such
published it.
a negative response from facul-
One, therefore, is forced to ty and students, one would
wonder why a similar mistake think that the Michigan Daily
was made two years later.
would have learned a valuable
I believe the error recurred lesson. The letter-to-the-editor
because university officials can- incident this fall has proven oth-
not influence what the Michi- erwise.
gan Daily publishes. Although
I asked Mr. Dubow why he
the Michigan Daily uses a uni- permitted such a thing to be
versity building, "we receive no printed in his paper.
monies from the university and
"It's a freedom of speech is-
the university has no say (in sue," he said. "Although it
what we do or do not publish)," wasn't an easy decision...read-
said the current editor in chief, ing (Mr. Smith's) letter made
Josh Dubow.
you want to fight back. Printing
Mr. Dubow went on to say it would do more good than
that the Student Board of Pub- harm."
lications, which oversees oper-
Professor Richard Seid
ations of the campus teaches the First Amendment
newspapers and yearbook, also at the University of Detroit
has no control over the editori- Law School. He said Mr. Dubow
al content of the paper.
"is using the First Amendment

Lu

and the idea of censorship to
mask irresponsible journalism.
What he (Mr. Dubow) doesn't
know is that the First Amend-
ment assumes — with respect
to people who are in a position
of power to publish — that they
will act responsibly."
Dr. Seid said when people
abuse the First Amendment,
"there is a danger that they
will undermine the support of
it."
Walter Harrison, vice presi-
dent for University of Michigan
Relations, believes that running
the editorial was unwise, but
that the paper had every right
to do it under the First Amend-
ment.
"It was a stupid mistake on
the part of the Opinion Page
editor as well as the editor in
chief of the Daily," he
said. "Each day, the
New York Times gets
thousands of articles
that are not worth the
paper they're printed
on. Just because some-
one sends you a piece
of paper, does not
mean you have to print
it."
As a student at the
University of Michi-
gan, as a Jew proud of
his heritage and histo-
ry and optimistic about
his people's future, I
was hurt more than
anything else by the
Michigan Daily's ac-
tions.
Aside from the fact
that this newspaper is
published at the same
university
where
specific classes are
taught on the Holo-
caust, where the Raoul
Wallenberg Award is
given to such recipients as Elie
Wiesel and where the first and
only Holocaust Memorial on any
public university grounds in
the country will be erected,
the mere notion that such
anti-Semitic hate is still being
printed then circulated to
more than 69,000 students,
faculty and staff is truly horrif-
ic.
I know the sad truth about
the Holocaust. I only hope that
people on my campus, Jews and
gentile, students and faculty,
have the common sense and the
decency to recognize hate when
they see it — printed between
the football scores and theater
reviews.
Michael HarPaz is a senior
studying Near East and Juda-
ic studies at the University of
Michigan. ❑

—11r U CO IE N TS

The Good Times
Continue Later

ALYSSA KA'TZMAN, SPECIAL

To THE JEWISH NEWS

Alyssa Katzman

ood times have a
way of repeating
themselves.
As a high school
student, I was active in the B'nai
B'rith Youth Organization. I re-
member all of the valuable
social and educational oppor-
tunities BBYO gave me back
then: leadership roles, friends,
conventions, campfires and con-
claves.
Now, as a Wayne State Uni-
versity student involved in B'nai
B'rith Hillel, I'm encountering
similar opportunities. Case in
point:
For the past four months, I
have served on the Metro Coun-
cil, a planning body for Hillel of
Metropolitan Detroit (HMD). In
November, I represented HIVID
at the International Great
American Traditions Award
(GATA) dinner.
The GATA dinner is an an-
nual event sponsored by the
B'nai B'rith Foundation. Each
year, Jewish leaders present an
award to an individual who has
contributed greatly to the com-
munity. The recipients do not
have to be Jewish.
Approximately 1,000 people
attended, and I was able to meet
some remarkable individuals,
including Art VanElslander of
Art Van Furniture. Mr. VanEl-
slander won this year's GATA
award for his involvement in
community and charitable af-
fairs.
I also met Mayor-Elect Den-
nis Archer, David Hermelin and
Dr. Ruth Westheimer, the
renowned sex therapist.
Two high school leaders of the
boys and girls branches of
BBYO were there, as well. Evan
Shapiro, the president of AZA,
and Jill Rosenfeld, the president
of BBG, publicly congratulated
Mr. Elslander on his award.

The night was topped off with
entertainment by comedian
David Brenner.
As a whole, the experience
further proved to me that the
good times do not have to end
with BBYO. They can extend

I also met
Mayor-Elect
Dennis Archer,
David Hermelin
and Dr. Ruth
Westheimer, the
renowned sex
therapist.

into one's college and post-col-
lege years through organiza-
tions like Hillel. All you have to
do is get involved.
I did, and it has been a great
experience up at the Hill.
Alyssa Katzman, a Wayne
State University student, is an
active leader on the HMD Metro
Council.

❑

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