4A - The Michigan Daily - Monday, November 22, 1999
- MW innBalg
420 Maynard Street HEATHER KAMINS
Ann Arbor, MI 48109 Editor in Chief
daily:letters@umich, edu
Edited and managed by JEFFREY KOSSEFF
students at the DAVID WALLACE
University of Michigan Editorial Page Editors
Unless otherwise noted, unsigned editorials reflect the opinion of the majority of the
Daily's editorial board. All other articles, letters and cartoons do not necessarily reflect
the opinion of The Michigan Daily.
A discriminatory union
Police must patrol all events equally
T he Michigan Union has always pro- black and Latino/a students would present
moted itself as a center of activity for more of a problem than a comparable
students, hosting to many different stu- group of students from all races. All stu-
dent groups every day. But the Union staff dent groups should be given equal treat-
does not treat all these groups equally. For ment at Union events.
Fill in the bubble,
sigh of relief escaped my lungs as I slid
my last application into the mailbox. It
was over-- months of tedious. mind-numbing
work on applications, personal statements and
the LSAT. Now, I thought to myself, I just have
to get accepted some-
where.
(Note to Michigan
law admissions com-
mittee members: If
you are reading this,
please stop now. Go to
the classifieds on the
next page. Maybea
someone sent you a t
'U'-Mail.)
For myself and my
fellow law school-
bound seniors, it all Jack
started in June with the Schillaci
much-hated Law
School Admissions
Test. Midway through th 7:
the test, we came
across a passage that really captured the utter
irrelevance of the test to the study or practice
of law. El Nino, it seems, must be taken into
account when trying to determine volcanic
effect on global weather patterns. So that's
been the missing link in all of the great legal
questions of the ages. Ah ha, El Nino! It all
makes sense now. May meteorological
jurisprudence reign supreme! I'm sure John
Marshall and William Blackstone can rest
easy in their graves knowing that we finally
have the answer.
But never forget, the LSAT is (somewhat)
correlated with first-year law school grades.
But with what are first-year law school grades
correlated? Weight? If so, I'm screwed (no fat
jokes, Anuj). How about ability, intelligence or
work ethic? You might be able to make a case
for some of the latter, but I'll bet there are
type out your name, sign the check
more than a few good lawyers and judges out that two pages is sufficient to give an adequate
there that really screwed up their first year of summary of what most on this campus have
law school (Earl Warren, for example). done.
Though I've (thankfully) never taken them, The writing prompts also leave something
the GRE, GMAT, MCAT and DAT look equal- to be desired. "Please write a two-page essay
ly (if not more) repulsive. Geez, at least the discussing something that is important to you
LSAT is done after four hours or so. The and how it relates to your career goals." Well
MCAT takes a whole damned day. that's vague and useless. A lot of things are
With the standardized tests behind us, we important to me. How about bacon? Life with-
academia-addicted seniors endeavored to find out bacon is no life at all, as far as I'm con-
the school that would fit us best. But could cerned. Mmmm ... bacon (I said shut up,
these grad schools come up with some better Anuj). Does that count? How does it relate to
PR people? "Here at XYZ University, we my career goals? Um, I someday hope to be an
pride ourselves on our tradition of academic attorney for Peppridge Farms? Is that OK?
excellence." Well, duh. You wouldn't exactly In the home stretch, we finally turn to the
advertise a tradition of academic incompe- tedious forms that grad schools require of
tence, now would you? "Our faculty are high- applicants. Slightly longer than an undergrad
ly trained practitioners who are devoted to application but with essentially the same ques-
research on emerging areas within the field." tions, the law school variety are invariably
As opposed to what, poorly trained monkeys? cause to buy many bottles of white out. But
And then there's my favorite: "We look some of the questions are just ridiculous. Why
beyond test scores and grades to get an idea of does my future law school care what my par-
who the applicant really is and what kind of ents do for a living or where they were born?
contribution they could make to our outstand- They're not alumni, so what difference does it
ing institution." Yeah, right. That explains why make? I'm not filling out a financial aid form
test score and GPA medians are displayed here. But if it helps my chances of getting in, I
prominently at the back of every brochure. am more than willing to help out, I guess.
Every single Website, pamphlet and forum What other irrelevant minutiae would you like
one visits or reads rehashes the same painfully to know? My shoe size? Eight. My favorite
predictable statistics and ideas. Sooner or later, movie? "Clue." My favorite color? Red. My
the ubiquitous U.S. News & World Report feelings about phrenology? I don't buy it -
rankings come out and the grad school-bound but no one has for about 150 years. My
take their test scores and their GPA to figure favorite recreational drug? I plead the Fifth.
out where they stand. Finally, the moment we all have been wait-
Having used the time-honored method to ing for - writing a check for S70 to get the
select where we'll spend the next two to five honor of being rejected from a really good
years of our lives, we who want more letters school. If this column does anything, it should
after our names embark on the task of sum- tell all the academically inclined underclass"-
marizing our life in a personal statement. men to forgo extra years in school and hours
Somehow, we are supposed to help give before a computer - and get a job instead.
admissions committees insight into who we -.Jack Schillaci, Esquire, can be reached
"really are" in a page or two. How vacuous do over e-mail atjschilla4umich.edu, but not
these people think we are? I strongly doubt for four years or so.
0
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the past 10 years, functions
for minority students have
been subject to racist poli-
cies. For instance, events tar-
geting specifically black or
Latino/a students have been
monitored with a much
stronger police presence than
those dominated by white
students. In addition, these
students are often subjected
Protst
Join pie keters in front of
thie Union today at noon.
SBoycott theUnion's
services today to sake
a statement oan racial
The University claims
one of its ideals is diversity,
a goal it has lauded a great
deal in recent years, partic-
ularly in light of the lawsuit
challenging its use of affir-
mative action. And indeed
the University has done a
great deal to preserve cam-
pus diversity, as it demon-
strates in its defense of its
to wristband and ID verification and
sometimes have to leave via the side door
rather than the front. At a Michigan
Student Assembly meeting last Tuesday,
Vice President for Student Affairs E.
Royster Harper admitted the Union's poli-
cies will change.
While there is a strong police presence
at black and Latino/a events, Department
of Public Safety officers did not attend
non-minority events such as Michigras.
This treatment is clearly discriminatory.
There is no good reason for black and
Latino/a events to merit special attention
from DPS. A policy somewhat similar to
the racial profiling used by police depart-
ments across the nation. If security at
Union events is such a pressing concern,
why are only black and Latino/a events
singled out? Why not increase security at
all student functions?
There is no reason a large group of
admissions policies. But simply having
students of many different racial and eth-
nic backgrounds is not enough in itself.
The University must ensure all of its stu-
dents feel welcome on campus, and that
means discriminatory policies that single-
out minorities cannot continue. The
Union's handling of minority events is
beneath the University.
Today, the organization Law Students
for Affirmative Action are encouraging a
boycott of the Union, along with a protest
at noon. University students of all races
should join in this effort to send a mes-
sage and make their voices heard. The
University should be a place that treats all
of its students fairly, regardless of race.
This isn't something we should even have
to worry about - in this age of liberalism
and diversity. But sadly, it is. While racial
profiling has made headlines nationwide,
this time it hits close to home.
THOMAS KULJURGIS
~I .NTIIAY Sl --EA.K
TNatS6.w1NG KEl
WI'M11 DX) VMTS Ar gon1
Teaching terror
Government must close School of the Americas
N oone is in favor of terrorism - and
the United States has always claimed
to take a strong stance against it. But
maybe not as much as one would like to
think. The U.S. government currently
funds the controversial School of the
Americas. SOA has trained its students in
a wide variety of basic military skills -
along with a number of questionable
activities, including torture, blackmail
and kidnapping.
SOA was first established in 1946 in
Panama to aid in the training of Latin
American and Caribbean militaries. In
1963, President Kennedy moved the insti-
tute to Fort Benning, Ga., and refocused its
goals to tit with the Cold War More than
50,000 people have graduated from SOA
since its founding.
The institute's alumni list includes
many notorious dictators. Other gradu-
ates have been responsible for some of
the most heinous acts of terrorism in the
last half-century. The Mozete Massacre in
El Salvador, which claimed the lives of
more than 900 civilians, was perpetrated
by SOA graduates. Archbishop Oscar
Romero was assassinated by an SOA
trained operative. A United Nations work-
er in Chile was murdered by another SOA
graduate. Hundreds upon hundreds of
human rights abuses have been commit-
ted in foreign countries by perpetrators
using techniques and skills learned here
in the United States.
The full magnitude of SOA's abuses
were not revealed until 1996 when, under
intense pressure, the Pentagon released a
number of the school's training manuals.
instruct students.
The School is clearly promoting the
violation of human rights and oppression
in foreign countries. Not surprisingly, a
strong protest movement has grown in
recent years demanding the end of SOA.
Sixty Ann Arbor residents will be traveling
to Fort Benning this month to protest SOA.
Their activism is needed - in 1998,
Congress voted to cut funding to the insti-
tute but the vote was defeated 212-201.
As important as protecting the nation-
al interests of the nation may be, SOA
simply goes too far. One of the United
States's major Cold War goals was to
spread democracy throughout Latin
America and the Caribbean. The SOA has
done nothing to achieve this goal, and has
only damaged the area by providing train-
ing for future terrorists. Educating our
neighbors so that they can better defend
themselves and the ideals of democracy is
one thing; showing them how to properly
torture and interrogate innocent civilians
is another. It is disgraceful that tax dollars
are funding such a school.
Through its sponsorship of the SOA,
the government has turned its back on its
alleged aspirations: peace, freedom,
democracy. How can other nations view
our form of democracy as being superior
to the fascist governments of other
nations if we encourage the same abuses
that they do?
The SOA should be closed down imme-
diately. In its place, the United States.
should sponsor a school that instructs its
students in human rights and how to pro-
tect them. Only then can the government
Rogers bill curtails
student voting
TO THE DAILY:
I would like to respond to misinformation
provided inYael Kohen's article, "Rogers looks
at voting rights." (11/1299). Kohen states that
Senate Bill 306, which banned students from
voting at their University addresses unless they
also change the address on their driver license,
"passed unanimously by both republicans and
democrats." This is simply not true.
SB 306 passed both the Senate and the
House on almost exclusively party-line votes.
Only one Democrat voted for this bill in the
Senate, and none did in the House.
Furthermore, both Sen. Dianne Byrum and
Rep. Laura Baird offered amendments that
would have exempted college students from
this law, while still cutting down on voter fraud
(the alleged intent of the bill). Not one Senate
Republican voted to exempt college students
from this law. In the House, the amendment
actually had enough votes to pass, but the lead-
ership didn't want it to, so they cleared the vot-
ing board and held the vote again. Amazingly,
three Republicans who had voted for the
amendment suddenly had to go to the bath-
room, and the amendment failed.
Clearly, this bill was aimed at curtailing
student voting, which is appalling.
KELLEY BOLAND
LSA SENIOR
Don't judge people
by their race
TO THE DAILY:
This letter is in response to all those letters
regarding affirmative action and to those peo-
ple who support affirmative action. I have
always viewed higher education as the ulti-
mate institution in our country. Some of the
colleges and universities are pragmatic while
others are idealistic in their curriculum. One
notion that I had always hoped would be con-
sistent throughout is the idea that education is
where all can come together as equal. How
can we possibly allow something as petty and
lZ
30
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ao es
disgusting as racism and discrimination to
enter the sacred halls of higher education? I
cannot find any answer to this question, but I
can see it happen as universities allow the use
of affirmative action in admissions.
The use of affirmative action allows dis-
crimination. Instead of discriminating against
the minority, it allows reverse discrimination
against the majority. This process tries to right
one evil with another. The fact of the matter is
that discrimination is discrimination whether it
is called discrimination or affirmative action.
Admissions allows the use of affirmative
action to make the campus more diverse. This
focus on race as a way for some to get entry
that would otherwise not be able to, is not what
civil rights leaders fought for. Martin Luther
King Jr. asked to be judged "on the content of
his character" instead of being judged by his
color. I would agree.
Unfortunately, some of my friends say that
this stance I have taken is elitist and prejudi-
cial. I am only trying to follow the Golden
Rule which has helped me for so long and is
fair to all, even in its simplicity.
Instead, I would like to be judged for what
is inside of me. This is why I encourage admis-
sions and all who use affirmative action to
bring this practice to a halt. Then we can all
come to these colleges knowing we have pro-
tected these sacred halls of learning.
BARRY SHAPIRO
LSA JUNIOR
Bush plan won't
hurt minorities
TO THE DAILY:
This is in response to the Nov. 17 edito-
rial "Chopping Away." I was surprised to
read the Daily's claim that the One Florida
plan will actually diminish the presence of
minorities at Florida's state universities.
I would be very interested to know
exactly what kind of high school the author
attended! I graduated from Grand Rapids
Central High School in 1996. By most peo-
ple's standards, Central would be consid-
ered an "ill-equipped, poor, urban high
school." Of the approximately 120 gradu-
ates in my class, over half were either black
or Latino/a. Of those 120 who graduated, I
would say that less than 20 actually went on
to a four-year college or university. I realize
that my experience probably doesn't mirror
that of the author, but I believe that it does
represent the situation at most inner-city
schools. Bush's plan would only serve to
increase the proportion of "disadvantaged"
students at state universities, and would
therefore be effective. If anyone has facts to
disprove this, I urge them to write a letter to
the editor.
DAN JOHNSON
BUSINESS SENIOR
Q VAC.ATII'4
ENDS
a a
ZS Z( Z? ~
0
EgyptAir crash coverage is biased and speculative
There has been a great deal of speculation
regarding the causes of the EgyptAir crash. In
Wednesday's issue (11/17/99), an Associated
Press article on the situation hinted at terrorism
as much of the media coverage has. Based on
past experience with incidents such as the
Oklahoma City bombing and the crash ofTWA
Flight 800, it is clear that this type of develop-
ing story requires hard information, patience
and pragmatism, not just wild speculation that
relies on common ignorant conceptions of
Muslims and Arabs as terrorists.
The media currently assert that the prayers
of an EgyptAir co-pilot suggest foul play. This
linkage came before experts agreed upon the
for misunderstanding and misinformation
resulting from such reporting mandates an
extra degree of caution, especially when
involving a tradition of jumping to mistaken
conclusions. It also includes more than just
side-comments by "experts" who get less
than 30 seconds to clear up the collage of
ambiguities and inaccuracies the rest of the
nightly news was devoted to constructing.
Experts should be relied on to challenge the
fundamental presumptions the media make
about Muslims and Arabs; that means using
them at deeper stages of the news-gathering
and interpreting process.
CNN reported "U.S. linguists ... disagree
grabbing on to are far from inconclusive.
The only thing we should conclude is that
making assumptions is not the right way of
going about this. After all the evidence that
can come in does, then theory-building can
begin. By trying to work evidence into a the-
ory, we threaten the possibility of reaching
the correct outcome while only furtheringA
mistrust of the Muslim and Arab American
community.
- This viewpoint was submitted by The
Arab-American Anti-Discrimination
Committee: LSA senior Will Youmans,
Engineeringfirst-year student Ahmad El-
Khatib, LSA first-year student Fadi Kiblawi,