oints of view >> Send letters to: Ietters@thejewishnews.com Publisher's Notebook Trashing A Resort And A Fraternity "It shall be the object of this Fraternity [Sigma Alpha Mu] to form a close social and frater- nal union of Jewish students at the various universities, colleges and professional schools in America; to foster and maintain among its sons a spirit of fraternity, a spirit of mutual moral aid and support; to instill and main- tain in the hearts of its sons love for and loy- alty to Alma Mater and its ideals, to inculcate among its sons such ideals as will result in actions worthy of the highest precepts of true manhood, democracy and humanity" T he Constitution of Sigma Alpha Mu has guided the organiza- tion and the 92 years of its University of Michigan chap- ter through war and peace, prosperity and Depression, quotas and affirmative action. A who's who of leadership — inside and outside of the Jewish community — has embraced Sigma Alpha Mu's raison d'etre. Many of the most respected names in Detroit's Jewish com- munity are among the U-M chapter's more than 1,000 living alumni. One of the first stories about U-M "Sammies" to appear in the Detroit Jewish News, dating to October 1942, carried a headline that reflected the stature the fraternity held on the Ann Arbor campus: "Scholarship Cup Won By Sigma Alpha Mu" — the second consecutive year it earned the highest grade point average among the uni- versity's 38 fraternities and sororities. The president of the fraternity that year was Lansing native Mery Pregulman, a con- sensus All-American football player for the Wolverines who went on to a stellar professional career with the Green Bay Packers. One of his fiat broth- ers was Avern Cohn, who contin- ues as an esteemed federal judge in Michigan's Eastern District. Over the years and decades, Sigma Alpha Mu was the "gold standard" for academic excellence, leadership and community service at the University of Michigan and among the fraternity's national chapters. The most recent crop of Michigan "Sammies" were no slouches when it came to academic perfor- mance and community service. In fact, the chapter earned the Founder's Cup — nation- Historical photo of Sigma Alpha Mu, 1952-1953: Front Row: George Edelman; Harold Mallon; Kenneth Cort; Marvin Siegel; Paul Richmond; Kenneth Shevin; Lawrence Pearlman; Herbert Solomon; Martin Cohen; Stanton Berlin; Ivan Bender; Michael Lyons. Second Row: Walter Segaloff; Arnold Check; Bruce Rifkin; Arnold Shifman; Ronald Seltzer; David Levine; William Siegel; Louis Kwicker; Thomas Kovan; Elliot Klepper; Theodore Kaufman; Donald Mendelssohn; Geoffrey Grossman; Richard Radway. Third Row: Robert Margolin, David Kaufman; Joseph Berke; Charles Mayer; Clarence Borns; Stuart Baruch; Robert Gross; Robert Steinberg, president; Alan Luckoff; Jerome Altman; Nonny Weinstock; Richard Lewis; Morton Friedman; Murray Yolles. Fourth Row: Erwin Rubinstein; Stuart Orman; Stanley Blumenstein; Robert Zeff; Paul Groffsky; Marc Jacobson; Stephen Jelin; Allan Schecter; Richard Meyer; Barton Hamburger; Warren Wertheimer; Basil Nemer; Daniel Fogel; Leonard Loren. Back Row: Lawrence Shongut; Myron Waxberg; Robert Bergner; Robert Gantz; Jerome Schostak; Stewert Krakover; Frederick Yaffe; Alfred Wolin; Donald Rosenberg; Irving Tobocman; Donald Tann; Bertram Shapero; Jerome; William Wise; Ronald Rosefield; David Bornstein. al Sigma Alpha Mu's highest award — for five of the past seven years in competition with 50 other chapters. But instead of headlines touting its overall excellence and fidelity to its fraternal purpose, today's headlines speak of a chapter that has been dissolved following a January weekend of destructive partying at an Up North ski resort. The chapter's see-hear-say-no-evil leaders and members chose to kill Sigma Alpha Mu at Michigan rather than cooper- ate with the national fraternity, university officials and police investigators in identifying those responsible for the destruction. The front page sub-headline in the March 18 edition of the Detroit Free Press summed it up: "U-M Sigma Alpha Mu chapter wrecked resort, didn't own up, now perma- nently disbanded." The latest headlines have the chapter's president and treasurer among those now facing criminal charges. What Happened? So how is it possible that some of the most promising undergraduates on the Ann Arbor campus — the leaders and best — temporar- Essay Beneath The Politicking Culture change must precede Palestinian statehood. sraeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's timing smacked of political maneuvering for the far- right vote, but he courageously said what U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry won't say: That a Palestinian state isn't possible under the Palestinians' current leadership and cultural climate. Circumstances must take a sharp turn in the terrorist-laden Middle East before conditions are ripe for the long-sought two-state solution to the Israeli- Palestinian conflict. The Palestinian Authority (P.A.), Israel's erstwhile nego- tiating partner, governs Palestinian-controlled areas of the West Bank, but sadly boasts a terrorist wing, the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades. P.A. Chairman Mahmoud Abbas' political party, Fatah, continues to bash Zionism in its schoolbooks, music videos, news I 52 April 2 • 2015 reports, mosques and summer camps. Fatah also glorifies "martyrdom for Allah" via terrorism against Israel. What's more, Abbas last year forged a unity agreement with Hamas, the ter- rorist organization that drove the P.A. from the Gaza Strip in 2007. Mixed Message The day before Israel's parliamentary elections on March 17, Netanyahu, in office six years dur- ing his second stint as prime minister and fighting for re-election against left-leaning Zionist Union party leader Isaac Herzog, declared there would be no Palestinian state under his watch. Such a state is a pillar of U.S. foreign policy in the roiling region and, given the right scenario, a position of the JN. Benjamin Netanyahu's anti- "Palestine" tactic was politicking at its worst. But the thrust of his message wasn't wrong. Netanyahu's anti- "Palestine" tactic was politicking at its worst; it left the all-impor- Benjamin tant clarification for Netanyahu three days later. But the thrust of the Likud leader's mes- sage wasn't wrong. "I think anyone who is going to establish a Palestinian state and to evacuate territory is giving radical Islam a staging ground against the State of Israel," Netanyahu told the Israeli website NRG. "This is the reality that has been created here in recent years. Anyone who ignores it has his head in the sand." Islamist forces indeed invade vacated territory – for example, ISIS in Iraq and Syria, Iran-backed proxies in Iraq, Lebanon, Syria and Yemen, Al Qaida in Syria and Yemen, and Muslim Brotherhood- and Iran-backed Hamas in Gaza. This must be stopped before Israel vacates the West Bank beyond its major settlements and risks seeing it armed by Iran or other jihadists. In his first major post-election inter- view, Netanyahu told MSNBC on March 19 he wasn't abandoning the idea of a Jewish state and a demilitarized Palestinian state side by side, coexist- ing in peace. A key to that prospect is Palestinian recognition of the Jewish state. "I don't want a one-state solution," said Netanyahu, who alters his politi- cal stripes to fit the situation, but who ultimately is politically pragmatic. "I want a sustainable, peaceful two-state solution; but for that, circumstances have to change."