Page 4- The Michigan Daily --Tuesday, September 25, 1990
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EDITED AND MANAGED BY STUDENTS
AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
420 Maynard Street
Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109
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NOAH FINKEL
Editor in Chief
DAVID SCHWARTZ
Opinion Editor
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Unsigned editorials represent a majority of the Daily's Editorial Board. All other cartoons,
signed articles, and letters do not necessarily represent the opinion of the Daily.
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Racist fliers
At Yale and Michigan, ignorance still reigns
"Now do you know why we call you niggers?"
SO ASKED A GROUP CALLED YALE But abject racist aggression, such as
Students for Racism in a letter sent to the harassment inherent in fliers like
10 Black students at Yale Law School, these, is only a part of the problem.
after citing the reported sexual assault
of a female classmate by two Black Ignorance is the bedfellow of
men. racism; combined with lethargy, the
Racism is still running rampant at effect is explosive. By remaining idle,
universities across America, as evi- and refusing to combat the problem,
denced by this event and a similar the community is as guilty as those
episode that took place at the University who actively perpetrate racism.
of Michigan Law School last week, in Lies, such as those involving ethnic
which a number of Black students or racial superiority, cannot stand ex-
received copies of a discriminatory posure to the harsh light of reason.
flier. Such small ideas can be forced un-
The fliers circulated on this campus demeath the rock whence they came,
are an abominable attempt to portray but only if we recognize the problem
the African National Congress as a and actively combat it.
group dedicated to the enslavement of In the post-civil rights era, man
white people. Those who distributed h gn past-c towrdgh s suey
the fliers may intensify the existing ra- have grown apathetic toward the issues
cial tensions at the University. of civil rghts and racism. Even on
* Members of the University and Ann progressive college campuses like Yale
Arbor communities should roundly and Michigan, people have begun to
condemn the distribution of these fliers turn a deaf ear to problems which con-
as another in a series of racial incidents tinue to fester in their communities.
on campus. When any one group in the This growing racism can no longer
community is under siege, the entire be ignored, and must no longer be tol-
community suffers the consequences. erated.
Sla s dSre tas ' th Wh o
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The above flier was distributed to several Black Law students at
the University of Michigan.
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Palestinians deserve criticism for
To the Daily:
I am truly fascinated by your expecta-
tion that any American in his or her right
mind, will endeavor to help the Palestini-
ans to get what you naively, (or is it pur-
posely) call academic freedom, when the
Palestinians have joined our enemies
Libya, Yemen and Iraq under the leadership
of that great humanitarian, Saddam Hus-
sein.
When the Arab League voted to join
the embargo against Iraq, following its
brutal and barbarous takeover of Kuwait, it
was that great leader of the Palestinians,
Yassir Arafat, who could hardly wait to
cast his vote against the embargo
resolution. Arafat acted to favor the
Butcher of Baghdad, who had been
threatening the world, especially Israel,
with the use of poison gas. And it is the
Palestinians, led by the academic freedom
seekers, who are hailing Arafat and
Saddam Hussein for their brave defiance of
the. rest of the world, including most of
their fellow Arabs, and of course, the
United States and Israel.
Now to get down to the gist of your
vehement editorial on the question of aca-
demic freedom ("Palestinians are.denied
academic feedom," 9/13/90). One would
like to ask the fair-minded, objective,
truth-seeking, unprejudiced emissaries of
MSA about the academic freedom to be
found in the other Near Eastern countries,
even where there is no hostile populace
ready to resist the authority of an
occupying power.
supporting Iraq
ardent advocates of a separate Palestinian
state? (Incidentally, the Jerusalem Post of
Sept. 1, 1990, informs us that Bethlehem
University in the West Bank is about to
reopen.)
Perhaps now the Daily will understand
the refusal of the Israeli authorities to
permit the establishment of a Palestinian
state on the West Bank. The United States
and its allies should otherwise have to be
Arafat acted to favor the Butcher of Baghdad, who
had been threatening the world, especially Israel, with
the use of poison gas.
s
Do Syria, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, or
Jordan have anything like freedom, aca-
demic or otherwise, e.g. press, TV, radio
or even personal communications, or even
for its own citizens?
Are not the universities on the West
Bank veritable hotbeds of indoctrination of
anti-Israel propaganda? Have not many
students of these universities become the
leaders of the intifidah, and the most
prepared to face an avowed enemy on a
second front - a pro-Iraqi state near Egypt
and the Suez canal, and next door to Israel.
It is also interesting to note that back
when Israel destroyed the construction site
in Iraq for an atom installation, she was
roundly condemned by the world. Now we
can all be grateful to Israel for removing
the menace of nuclear destruction from the
armory of Saddam Hussein.
Philip Resnikov*
SNR is working to recruit more students of color
To the Daily:
In a Daily article regarding differences
in minority enrollment among schools,
you correctly report that the School of
Natural Resources currently has the lowest
minority enrollment on campus.
However, what you didn't report is that
the School of Natural Resources is a leader
in a national effort to increase diversity in
the environmental field, both in natural re-
source schools and programs nationwide,
and in environmental organizations and
professions.
Over the past few years the school has
increased its efforts (despite lack of
staffing and funding) to recruit students of
color through its summer minority intern
program, a new joint program with Wayne
County Community College, and our
Rouge River Environmental Education
Program in the Detroit Public Schools.
All these efforts are designed to in-
crease knowledge about career opportuni-
ties in the natural resource and environ-
mental fields. Our efforts are beginning to
be successful. Next fall the School of
Natural Resources will enroll 10 more un-
dergraduate students of color, both Black
and Hispanic. While the numbers are not
large, we see it as a step.
I am also concerned about the salary is-
sue raised by President Duderstadt. Salaries
in the field of natural resources and the en-
vironment are increasing, as are the em-
ployment opportunities.
At a recent conference I attended ip
Washington D.C. (the National Minority.
Environmental Career Conference), repre-
sentatives from private industry, non-
profit organizations, and government
agencies at all levels were recruiting stu-
dents of color for a wide range of profes-
sional positions with competitive entry
level salaries.
Sandra Gregerman
Director of Academic Programs,
School of Natural Resources',
Lessons to be learned from the death of Becky Bell
THE
GREEK SYSTEM
ml"
To the Daily:
I'm writing this letter by the
light of a slowly fading flame and
I'm writing in the calm after a
storm. The sorority members are
chanting nearby, feeling female and
fertile and fine. Me, I took up a
rather different chant this evening,
in the memory of a woman named
Becky Bell.
I call her a woman - they
called her a girl, and so Becky died
after an illegal abortion in a state of
despair called Indiana. Becky turned
17 (not 18), and she died. And I
turned 17 not too long ago and here
I am shouting aloud and not feeling
Becky Bell's death
To the Daily:
We have just returned from a
candlelight vigil in honor of Becky
Bell, a victim of the parental con-
sent law restricting abortions to
young or alone. And I think that I
am sick of being told I am small.
I am 17 and a sophomore and I
am feeling guilty. I felt guilty for
the anti-male sentiments that went
blazing through my brain. And now
I feel guilty in their absence.
I dislike my hasty, stormy wish
for a woman who could pass such a
ridiculous law, a mother instead of
a man. I wanted a female oppressor
to hate, to stop the one-sidedness of
my anger (excuse me, my candle
has gone out).
The law, in a way, seems like
fiction to me, just too far-fetched to
be true. But I know that if I were to
exemplifies need for
What happened to Becky Bell
can never happen again. It was
senseless. It was wrong. Becky was
old enough to get pregnant. Biol-1
ogy made her old enough. But, the
become pregnant tonight, both the
act and the law would become very
real. I'd be one of the lucky ones
they'd say, as a second-year Honors
student, having had Logic 101,
they'd most certainly trust my good
judgment.
It's the very thought of having
to ask permission that truly fright-
ens me - whether the permission
springs from a familiar, familial
source, or from the wondrous well-
spring of the government. This is
me speaking, this is my person and
my personal decision.
This letter is also a bit too per-
sonal, and I am sorry, but the
thought of having to subject myself
to such a law sparks feelings which
are difficult to suppress. I dislike
my lack of thought for the many
women of Michigan and Minnesota
who, like me, are angry.
And I feel guilty for not think-
ing of Becky and the many women
who have felt or will feel alone.
And yet the sorority women have
stopped their songs, my candle has
long since gone out, and I cannot
help but think that there are some
who should feel much more guilty
than me.
Nina VanderVoort
LSA sophomore
Chi Phi rush poster
reflects on Greeks
To the Daily:
Once again Fraternity Rush is
upon us. Walking through the Diag
has become a hassle for me. The
benches, light posts, and even the
cement beneath my feet are plas-
tered with fraternity rush fliers.
Of course the paper waste is ter-
rible, but that's not the ron for
my letter. I am complaining about
Chi Phi's ad. It states, "Rush Chi
Phi or we'll shoot this dog."
The cartoon depicts a man hold-
ing a gun to a dog's head. I am be-
liever in the First Amendment, but
Don't
like
what
Y'see2?
Tell our readers
what you think.
Write to the
ii,.a n aily at
a woman's right to choose an abortionI
to decide the direction of her life.
Instead, the government imposed a
decision and she is dead. Where is
her right to life?
We cannot believe that anyone
Support sex education in
schools. Support the provision of
birth control to those who need and
want it. Support open family dis-
cussion without the interference of