18 - The Michigan Daily -- Tuesday, April 18,_1995 LETTERS University's food prices cheat students To the Daily: It seems strange to me how the University has been effectively charg- ing first year students ridiculous prices for cafeteria food for so many years. The four plans offered to the students in the residence halls do not work to their advantage but rather to their disadvantage. The university encour- ages students to choose the "any 13" meal plan providing them with the most versatility. But in reality, the plan does not work. Most students find that their classes are conflicting with the limited hours the cafeteria serves meals. Therefore, ending up with an excess amount of meals at the end of each week which they cannot use toward meal credit in the snack bars in most dorms. The "weekday nine" meal plan allows students to eat nine meals a week but not on week- ends. Because most students have classes when the cafeteria serves lunch, again the students find an ex- cess amount of meals on every Friday which they cannot use towards that weekend. The last plan, "one a day," also contains flaws, Students can only dine in the cafeteria only once each day. If you miss one day's meal, you lose the credit. It seems almost insane that you can't use that credit towards another meal on a different day. After all, it's paid for. In addition, if a student does not wish to eat dinner or lunch in the cafeteria on a given day of the week, one has the opportunity to use the meal credit in the snack bars in the most of the dorms. Yet if you use meal credit for dinner, which cost some six odd dollars per meal you only get the equivalent of three dol- lars and five cents in the snack bar. Why doesn't the student deserve to receive the full amount of snack bar meal credit for the meal that he or she is missing? I am currently of South Quadrangle and I have changed my meal plan from the "weekday 9" to "one a day." The lines at the Entree Office in the Student Activities Build- ing in the beginning of the Winter term are very much self-evident of the problems that exist in the resi- dence halls Entree program. I strongly fell that some sort of change must be made to provide first and second year students living in the dorms with meal plans which give the students a good quality of food at a fitting price with fixible hours to eat. I believe that this 1a chage could possibly make living and eating in the dorms a more pleasur- able experience. Alison Goldman First-year art student Students should protest code To the Daily: I encourage everyone passing by to check out the Code Protest on the Diag at noon on Thursday. The Code (the University's code of non-aca- demic conduct) might not effect ev- eryone at the university today, recog- nize that no one is immune. The fact is, of the thousand or so students who have been involved in the process, few knew much about the policy be- forehand. In fact, knowing about the policy, knowing what you can and can't do on your own time (according to the University) is the best insur- ance policy against having to become an expert the hard way. The other reason you might be interested, is that barring an unpopu- lar war, little gets students motivated anymore. Activism is at an all time low and if we keep rolling over, it makes it very hard to pinpoint our own moral and ethical standards. We don't have powerful, simple issues today, and we may very well miss out on the opportunity to feel what it's like to be a part of a collective effort if we don't try... Vince Keenan MSA Student Rights Commission Remember WWII crimes To the Daily: In the continuing effort of remind- ing people the potential brutality and destructive power of human nature, memorial activities of the Holocaust can be seen regularly in this county. We paid fair amount of attention to it of course. But what really caught our hearts last week was a special report that appeared in the New York Times of March 17. It was about the story of the notorious unit 731 of the Japanese Imperial Army and the unthinkable crimes they committed during WWII. As two international students from Asia, we are well aware of the exist- ence and some facts about this unit, but we were still shocked emotion- ally when we saw the report on one of America's leading newspapers. Yes, it was an old, old story. It was a long, long time ago. People seem to forget all of it. All these cruel vivisections without anesthetic, all these gas cham- bers surrounding innocent children, all these whole-body specimens... all these unbearable so-called medical experiments which cause direct deaths of at least thousands of civil people, most of them were Chinese, Korean and Russian, in the concentration camp of unit 731. Yes, people forgot all of this, and forgot it quickly. While the Allied and Jewish were trying to capture the Nazi leaders and execute them, the US government, who hold mostof the evidence on the crimes, promised not to put the members of unit 731 on trial in order to get a hand on their "experi- mental data." Was this data so impor- tant? Get real. We would rather say it was because the lives of these victims were simply of little concern to the US government. The Cold War was once again used as an excuse for in- justice. Today we can only feel deep sorry for these victims. Their lives were not respected by the Japanese, their own countries and the US gov- ernment. Their lives were simply not respected by the world! Without punishment, ex-members of unit 731 would lead their lives peacefully (what a luxurious word!) Some could even climb the career ladder quite successfully: among them, a governor of Tokyo, president of the Japan Medical Associations and head of the Japan Olympic Com- mittee. Still the Japanese government hasn't taken any step to express the nation's remorse of those "logs" (what they called the prisoners). And we heard that President Clinton just re- named the V-J day as the "end of the Pacific War." We see clearly how the history can be ignored and even changed (recall the Japanese attempt of using "in- outs" instead of aggression in text- books) if everybody just stops caring about the history. That's also a basic theme that appears again and again in ceremonies of the Holocaust. So, please, here we have to say, while you mourn for the dead of the Holocaust, while you feel sorry for the people of Hiroshima, please, also try to give justice back to those people who were dying in horrible fear, in the cold chambers of the concentration camp of unit 731. Tzu-Hsien Sang and Hyunmog Park EECS graduate students Responding to Notre Dame ban To the Daily: I felt compelled to respond, at least in part, to April L. Opper's letter appearing in the March 31 iussue of the Daily (entitled "Notre Dame en- titled to its priciples"). I do not wish to express an opinion concerning what Notre Dame did, as i agree that as a private and religious institution it was well within its rights to disallow a homosexual group to meet on cam- pus. However, even as a conservative Catholic, I do take exception to Ms. Opper's characterization of the teach- ing of the Cathollic Church on the subject oof homosexuality. Perhaps I am not reading Ms. Opper's letter charitably enough. Howevr, I think it is safe to say that my reading of what she has written is possible and that others have probably also read her as I have. Ms. Opper is quite right to say that "[homosexuality is forbidden in the Catholic religion..." this is clearly stated in the new Catechism of the Catholic Church at 2357. But, to sug- gest that homosexual people people "do not 'have a place' at a Catholic university" seems contrary to 2358- 2359 of the Catechism. To suggest that homosexual people are not de- serving of "'support and understand- ing"' and that "being Catholic and homosexual...os as oxymoron," is in my belief, contrary to the basic teach- ings of Christ and the Church. The Church has long taught that we should hate the sin and love the sinner. The Church teaches us that homosexual- ity, that is, engaging in homosexual acts, is sinful. (Indeed, the Church teaches that all sexaul relations out- side of Christina marriage are sin- ful..) Nevertheless, we are instructed to accept homosexual people "with respect, compassion, snesititvity," and that "[e]very sign of unjust discrimi- nation in their regard should be avioded" (2358). So we should sup- port and try to understand homosexual people, just as Christ supported and understood many people who were outcasts in Jewish society when He was in the world. Further, homosexual people have a place in the Catholic Church. The Church teaches that ho- mosexual people (as everyone) should remian chaste. Being homosexual is a great burden for many homosexual people, especially Christian homo- sexuals. The church teaches that through self-mastery, prayer and sac- ramental grace, and also through dis- interested friendship, homosexual people "can and should gradually and resolutely approach Christian perfec- tion," just as the rest of us can and should (2359).I wholeheartedly agree with Ms. Opper's suggestion that the press should be careful not to be intol- erant of some one group's beliefs in order to fight aperceived intolereance of antoher group. However, not only the press can be or is guilty of this. Indeed, whether intended or not, Ms. Opper's letter seemed to me to be approaching intolerance of homo- sexuals in her zeal to point out intol- eranceof (supposed) Catholic beliefs. As a Christian, I believe, that we all have faults and that all humanity is cullpable for Christ's passion. We should pray for and love one another. We ought affectionatley to encourage one another to aviod sin and even the occasion of sin and to be mindful of the burden others bear. In closing, I would like to say that the Catholic Church, Catholic institutions, and Catholic individuals should, in accor- dance with the Church's teachings in the Catechism, love all people re- gardless of the beliefs or practices. I nloving, we do not neccessarily em- brace the beliefs we find abhorrent, rather, we recognize the infinite worth of all people. George R. Thomas Second-year Law student Women need affirmative action programs To the Daily: In the letter regarding affirmative action ("Affirmative Action Harms Quest For Gender Equity," 4/12/95), Ms. Falconer, Ms. Dombdkowski, Ms. Cessna, and Ms. Singleton state, "Qualifications and ability should be the sole means of determining the suitable person for thejob." we agree. However, they fail to realize thatquali- fication and ability are far from the determining factor in hiring practices today; unqualified men are cosistently hired over qualified women, dispel- ling any idea that a level playing field has been thus far achieved. the affir- mative action that seems most prob- lematic is the status quo bias towards white men; barring goverment or cor- porate policies women and minorities are passed over - what's wrong with an attempt to counter that present bias? Ms. Falconer, et al, suggest "Un- qualified women hired in this type of situation further expand the notion that women are unable to do 'men's' work," but in fact women are given little chance to prove their abilities to do these jobs now. Affirmative action provides oportunities for women and minorities to work side by side with white males - you can't compete if you're not even allowed to be in the game. Ms. Falconer and friends base much of their argument on the as- sumption that great numbers of un- qualified women will soon displace America's superior work force, but it has never been shown that affrimative action and lower work competence go hand in hand. What is truly unfor- tunate is that we have come to the point where such drastic' action is A neccessary. Most people would pre- fer a color and gender - blind society, but given the attitudes of many who hold positions of power, this day has not yet arrived. People who suggest affirmative action policies may be beneficial are not "victimizing" cer- tain segments of society - these people are merely realists. Before they label this letter a whine, Ms. Falocner & Co. should consider the possibilty that one day they will be job-hunting themselves, unable to compete with the less qualified men solely because they lack a Y chromosome. There's something to be said for conscious- ness raising. Ellen Oberwetter Amy Humowiecki LSA sophomores Daily covers gay issues well To the Daily: Sincere thanks to the Daily for the sensitive coverage and support that you have continued to give lesbigay people and our concerns. One hun- dred years ago this month Oscar Wilde was brought to trial. Twenty-ffiveyears this srping we founded the Detroit Gay Liberation Movement and the Ann Arbor Gay Liberation Front; AAGLF protested President Nixon's bombing of Cambodia; we joined in demonstrations against the killing of students at Kent State University; we picketed Angell Hall in support of the Blavk Action Movement (BAM) strike.Twenty-five years ago this sum- mer, thanks to Gerry DeGrieck, a vice-president of Student Goverment Council, AAGLF hosted a statewide "gay conference" in the Student Ac- tivities Building, although then-Presi- dent Robben Fleming had denied us the use of the University facilities for the event. Twenty-five years ago at the invitation of the Board of Regents I spoke to them about Gay Liberation's purpose: we sought justice. Lesbigay people seek justice today: we note with particular concern the recent murder of Scott Armedure, a gay male resident of Oakland County; the assualt perpetrated earlier this term on a gay male U-M student near the Arcade on State Street; .and the pro- tests launched against Queer Unity Project's "kiss-in" on the Diag. We must remember also the many survi- vors of discrimination and who do not dare report the attacks they have en- dured because of the fear of retalia- tion and further unjust treatment. Os- car Wilde is now memorialized in Westminster Abbey. Will justice be served in the case of Scott Amadure? I urge lovers of peace and of justice to support the concerns of lesbigay people and of the agencies and insti- tutions that serve us and our con- cerns.: the many other University and community groups, secular and reli- gious. that speak for justice and for freedom. Jim Toy Affirmative Action Representative Human Resourses and Affrimative Action I p p 9 0 ak When it comes to Europe, nobody offers you more fun-or more value-than Contiki. For example, a two-week, nine-country tour costs " only $1,244 including airfare.* There are over 30 tours-ranging from 9 to 52 days. Stop by or call Council Travel, 998 -0200 The Words for a free brochure. BiggestTrvel Company Price is double occupancy from New York. Departures available For 18.35YearOlds from most major U.S. cities. Prices vary according to departure date. Congratulations Graduates! School's Out Sale! 20% off of our regular retail prices 4 April 27-29 >: ,.