LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
The Michigan Daily - Monday, March 11, 1996 - 5A
East U. mall
ould cause
undue harm
To THE DAILY:
As an alum, I enjoy reading the
Daily online. One of the recent topics,
the pedestrian mall along East U., has
caught my attention. It sounds like a
geat idea to make that stretch of the
greet into a pedestrian mall, with
aesthetically pleasing plants; etc.
Unfortunately, I read that the
landscape architects have chosen to
plant crab-apple trees. My parents
have had a crab-apple tree in their
yard for years. It has been a nothing
but a nuisance. Sure it flowers, for at
most two weeks in spring. More often
than not, it blooms for about three
days. The rest of the year it is ugly.
worse than that, it drops rock hard
"apples" onto the yard, which in turn,
rotted the grass underneath if left for
too long.
Another unanticipated side effect
is that the apples turn into dangerous
projectiles when picked up and
thrown by mischievous kids (we had
a high school bus stop on our corner
- the kids loved to have crab-apple
fights). Needless to say, I think
panting crab-apple trees would be a
mistake. It makes no sense to do so,
considering the climate of SE
Michigan will not allow the trees to
flower for long, and the apples will
just be a source of trouble.
ANDREA E. CROSS-DIAL
ENGINEERING ALUM
*bstinence can
stop HIV
TO THE DAILY:
I am writing in response to Jean
Twenge's column, "The best sitcoms
have a box of condoms and a bottle of
honey," (2/20/96). Twenge leads an
attack on abstinence and promotes the
se of birth control. I would like to
*ke a moment to respond to
Twenge' s arguments.
Her first real thought on the
subject is that "marriage does not
protect you from AIDS or any other
STD." I ask "Why not?" If both
partners in a marriage wait to have
sex, then as long as neither of them
caught HIV from using drugs or a
blood transfusion then they won't
catch it from each other, but then she
eks up her point with "but quite a
ew women with the AIDS virus got
it from their husbands." I ask, "Where
did their husbands get the AIDS virus
from?" Could it be they had sex
before marriage?
Twenge is misinterpreting the
slogan, "You're worth waiting for." It
not only means that a woman should
wait until she is married to have sex,
but also that she should marry
*>meone who waited until marriage
to have sex with her. So, what if a
guy doesn't want to wait till mar-
riage? Tell him to hit the road. If he's
not willing to be faithful to you by
not have sex with others now, why
would he be faithful to you by not
having sex with others after he is
married?
Twenge's last statement, "It's
worth it to use birth control," leaves
e wondering... Worth what? The
sk of getting pregnant, the risk of
catching a fatal disease, the knowl-
edge that you are sharing the most
intimate experience with someone
you don't even love, what? Twenge
even stated earlier that "they're
(condoms) not perfect."
Twenge claims it's sexist that
women need to stay virgins till
marriage. I claim it's sexist for a man
A expect that a virgin would marry
m even though the man isn't a
virgin. I am proud to say that I am a
virgin and I plan on staying that way
until I marry another virgin. Why?
It's because I know I'm worth
waiting for, and I know that the
woman I marry is worth waiting for.
Wives are special and they deserve all
of love and respect.
NATHAN GOSLEE
ENGINEERING JUNIOR
MSA chair not
representing all
constituencies
To THE DAILY:
I read the article Feb. 28 "Free-
man keeps job as MSA chair." I
spoke against his involvement in the
International Students Affairs
Commission as chair for some good
reasons. As the article states, his
intention is clearly under question.
The second compelling reason for my
staunch opposition is his performance
as the chair. Freeman assumed the
position through Olga Savic in
January 1996. He held no formal
meetings, had contacted no offices
such as the housing, Minority
Students Affairs and the International
Center to investigate the life of
international students on our campus.
He has done no homework at all. It
was only after I sent a letter, Feb. 5,
to Savic criticizing both of them that
he started to think and act, however
little and superficial. He finally held a
meeting Feb. 13, with little agenda.
The second and third meetings on the
two subsequent weeks discussed
housing situation for, and housing
discrimination against international
students. He was not prepared at all.
His comment once was, "Interna-
tional Center absolutely does not do
anything for international students
except on visa." I raised my objection
to his comment.
The same Friday he met with
Zahir Ahmed, the director of the
International Center to see it for
himself. For the two weeks during
which we discussed housing situation,
Freeman had not contacted the
housing office to find out ins and outs
of the matter. It makes me wonder,
then, why a chair is a chair. Freeman
has done no homework, he does not
understand the life of an interna-
tional/minority student, he has no
vision and no specific objective and/
or strategies. Yet he claims to be the
vanguard of the international students
on our beautiful campus. I am not
easily deceived.
Now, he is trying to get credit for
the work that the Ann Arbor Tenants'
Union has put into this. This is not
right, and it is just not fair. Now, the
Michigan Student Assembly has
signaled a very strong message to
Freeman. Many representatives feel
what I feel. We need leaders who will
work not for their own self-interest,
but for their constituency. Freeman
does not pass that test of character.
Freeman put himself up for recall
for two reasons. First, it was a
publicity stunt, which I do not
particularly subscribe to. Secondly, as
he mentioned it himself at the end of
ISAC's last meeting, to find out what
representatives are against him. Now,
is this a good and sane reason for a
self-recall? The assembly's final 20-
14 vote against him speaks for itself.
Freeman is mixing his pleasure with
business, and he seems to have taken
it very personally. We need people
who want to do work. We mean
business. MSA is not a joke.
I have requested the Central
Student Judiciary to remove Freeman
on the grounds that his nomination
was unconstitutional, and in light of
his poor and deceptive performance.
He may be a nice person. But he has
not demonstrated sincere intention,
skills, vision and leadership to
deserve such position. International,
minority and all other students are not
to be taken advantage of. It is time we
spoke for our interests and unity. It is
time we spoke against external
decisive forces and factors. Deceptive
and selfish practices cause segrega-
tion and apathy. I stand for the virtue
of honesty, integrity and friendship.
Let's roll up our sleeves and do some
work for students.
AFSHIN JADIDNOURI
LSA JUNIOR
Writer misses
SNL funny points
To THE DAILY:
Jen Petlinski's article "'Saturday
Night Live' alums' careers dying
slowly" (2/2/96) is amusing except
for a blatant factual error. The trend
did not begin with "the success of the
original Waynd's World movie," but
with the much earlier and far superior
Blues Brothers Movie. John Belushi
and Dan Ackroyd brought this pair
from SNL to the movies with superior
acting, funnier jokes, better music
and more stars than any SNL
knockoff since. (For example, that's
Frank Oz, the muppeteer behind Miss
Piggy and Yoda, holding the used
condom in the opening scene.) Maybe
Jen is just too young to remember this
classic. If so, I suggest renting it,
perhaps this Saturday night.
EDWARD P. BECKER
RACKHAM STUDENT
Tables turned on
Rosenberg
To THE DAILY:
I just read Michael Rosenberg's
Feb. 29 column, "The only thing we
have to fear ... "and I find it
interesting to compare the style of
this column to the way he tackled the
topic of his "Sportsmen of the beer
salute Sports Illustrated" article (2/15/
96). 1 guess it's a little harder to make
jokes when you're directly affected
by the problem.
BRIAN HAAG
LSA SENIOR
McIntosh leaves
reader 'in a
daze' about
res. hall life
To THE DAILY:
It is late and perhaps this is
leading more to my confused state
than Brent McIntosh's column ("Life
in the dorm: Bad food, weird
neighbors and many memories," 2/23/
96); however, I still am left in daze.
I must admit a personal flaw. I've
never been too much into English,
history or journalism, but isn't an
editorial suppose to, well, eventually
get around to making a point?
I'm left with the conclusion that
you wrote it only to be funny. And in
fact, I'll give that to you - it had its
humorous parts, though the "I live on
pasta" routine has been re-used as
many times as the lone joke in an
SNL skit is repeated.
Well, back to the piece at hand.
Beyond proving that you should try
your hand at writing for Comedy
Company, why did you bother?
Trashing on dorms makes the
pasta routine look like a new born.
Did I miss the new slant you brought
to the topic? Was there some hidden
message that the powers that be at the
University are going to understand,
(which I didn't) and enable them to
make the dorms better?
By the way, if you thought you
were getting the shaft, why did you
live in West Quad for two years?
Assuming there is a reason, couldn't
that have warranted more than a
sentence. Perhaps even inspired a
little yin-yang action that you could
have woven into a point. Remember,
you're objective is to print stuff of
which everyone, on campus, hasn't
already thought.
JARED K. ENTIN
UNIVERSITY ALUM
Column misses
key points about
Roman empire
To THE DAILY:
With his remark in his Feb. 22
column "Spring break - an institu-
tion" that "Julius Caesar and the boys
didn't take a Chevy to Sicily for a
few days in the middle of a war,"
Michael Rosenberg pays proper
respect and homage to the almighty
courage and perseverance of the
Roman Army.
For this I thank him, but I am
afraid nevertheless that this phrase
might be erroneously interpreted as a
slur on the technological capabilities
of the Roman Empire - a sentiment I
am certain Rosenberg would be
aghast to express.
Roman culture remains unsur-
passed in its achievements in science,
technology, engineering, arts, music,
poetry, humor ... the list could extend
ad infinitem.
Had the Romans desired to
develop the Chevy, this would have
been done.
Indeed, who are we to mock
them? Even today, 1,520 years after
Odoacer sacked The Glory That Was
Rome, it is still impossible to drive a
Chevy across the sea that separates
Sicily from the Italian peninsula.
BENJAMIN ZVi NOVICK
-- RC SENIOR
Improper use of
word harms
women's image,
movement
TO THE DAILY:
In her review of the film "Mary
Reilly" ("'Mary Reilly' spins an old
story new," 2/26/95), Kristen Okosky
asks, "Does anybody mind if I just
refer to (Julia Roberts) as the lucky
bitch who gets to date Chandler?"
Actually, yes, I do mind. In fact, I
mind when anyone refers to anyone
else, especially a woman, as a
"bitch."
If Okosky or anyone else wants to
argue the demeaning and pejorative
nature of this particular term, again
especially to women, and its inherent
implications, then I suggest a quick
review of any of a dozen or more
elementary texts about discrimina-
tion, sexism, domination or oppres-
sion.
More over, if anyone has such a
poor grasp of language that "bitch" is
the only term they can come up with
to refer to a person of whom they are
envious, then perhaps that person
ought to reconsider writing in a
public forum such as the Daily.
It might not be a bad idea for the
Daily's editors to reconsider their
own publication standards in terms of
common sense and respect, either.
BETH HARRISON
SCHOOL OF SOCIAL WORK
Problems at Art
School expected
To THE DAILY:
Your full-page article ("Students,
dean clash.in School of Art," 2/28/96)
was the first I had heard about the
protests against the dean. However, I
saw it coming. The reason that the
protests haven't caught my attention
sooner is that, though I am a full-time
Art student, the School of Art has
very little to offer me in terms of
facilities; therefore, I do not go to
North Campus very often.
Your article mentioned nothing of
the destruction that has been going ont
in the photo department, which is
considered a fine arts department.
Until last year, photo had one large
classroom for more than 100 students
in photo. The classroom space
included a studio where graduates and
undergraduates alike could have the
opportunity to photograph under
correct studio lighting conditions.
The space also included an area in
which to perform special processes
that cannot be done in the regular
photo lab because of the toxic fumes
these processes create, and two
individual darkrooms. This space has
since been stripped from the photo
department and turned into office
space for two resident artists. These
artists have nothing to do with the
photo program. So now, for over 100
photo students, there is no classroom;
no studio space, no alternative
processing space and we are out two
individual darkrooms. The only space
available to the photo students is the
lab which is open very limited hours
and definitely doesn't have the
equipment to give each student ample¢
time to complete their work. For
example, there are only four color
enlargers for more than 60 students
who need to use them. I feel that the
destruction and neglect of this
program is exactly the type of thing
that the Art students league is
protesting. One would think that at
such a large affluent University the
600 Art School students would see a
larger proportion of the funds
available. We are a small number to
please; however, it looks to me as if
*the University is doing everything it
can to destroy the finegarts program
and to make our numbers even
smaller.
Art is necessary to life. Just as is
design. Every studept should have a
chance to get a good education here,
not just the students whose fields
attract alumni cash.
AMANDA WETTERGRE$
SCHOOL OF ARt
f.
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