4C - The Michigan Daily Graduation Edition - Tuesday, April 17, 2001

REMEMBERING

THE PAST

4

YEARS

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR THAT REFLECT 'U>

Bollinger: 'U'
admissions
practices are legal
To THE DAILY:
Since its founding, the University
of Michigan has been committed to
providing an education to the widest
range of students. Throughout our
history we have included students
from diverse geographical. racial,
ethnic and socioeconomic back-
grounds.
For almost 200 years, public uni-
versities have unlocked the doors to
social and economic opportunity to
students from many different back-
grounds, and we believe it is
absolutely essential that they contin-
ue to do so. Our mission and core
expertise is to create the best educa-
tional environment we can. We do
this in part through a diverse faculty
and student body.
Our admissions policies are
linked to these core values, especial-
ly our chief value: academic excel-
lence. We are supported in this
judgement by virtually all of Ameri-
ca's leading universities, and we
believe that our admissions policies
are fully consistent with existing
legal principles.
LEE BOLLINGER
Unire vitp'esideni
102U97
Riot cops' actions
were a 'tragedy'
To THE DAILY:
Hats off to the 1997 Michigan
Wolverines. The roses smell great.
The post-game ceremonies were a
blast after the game on Saturday. The
crowd really handled itself well on the
field after the game.
It was a tragedy that the thousands
of ecstatic were met by riot cops on
the field. The fans were no danger to
the teams, the staff or themselves.
Undefeated seasons are rare, and the
fans have every right to go crazy.
Rushing the field was prohibited by
the University to prevent injuries, but
if anyone was hurt during the post-
game celebrations it was because of

the riot cops.
On a day that our students and fans
will never forget, they will also
remember being thrown to the round
and being sprayed with pepper spray.
The fans should have been helped
down to the field, not beaten down to
the ground. Even after hundreds of
fans were already on the field, the offi-
cers were still dragging fans down. I
only hope that if a similar situation
presents itself, the University will act
di ferently.
JON LENAWAY
LSA sophomore
1124 707
Affirmative action
is racism
To THE DAILY:
Affirmative action is an issue of
racial discrimination. Racial discrim-
ination is both illogical and immoral.
To deny the fact that affirmative
action is a racial issue would be to
undermine the intelligence of people
on both sides of the issue.
I prefer to look at social issues
from an individual perspective.
Affirmative action asks us to make a
sacrifice. As noble as that is, let's
examine it on an individual basis.
without rhetoric or statistics. ...
Would you be willing to give up
your spot in college or employment
for someone less deserving in the
name of affirmative action? Would
you be willing to "bend over and
take one for the team." so to speak? I
wouldn't. And as a citizen of a free
country. I shouldn't have to. Call me
a selfish bastard, but the very heart
of our political and economic sys-
tems lies in the rights and responsi-
bilities of the individual.
This might be a shocker to those
people expecting handouts, but this
is the real world, where we don't
have to share. I wanted an education
at a top-notch school, so I worked
for it, and I'll be damned if I support
a program that "assumes" merit and
presumes to manually "level the
playing field," hurting my individual
chance to succeed and undermining
the very integrity of this nation's
competitive spirit.
AVI DERROW
A P4sophonnmo
4,91'9

Fraternity should
not be blamed for
death
To THE DAILY:
If a 15-year-old steals a car and gets
into an accident, the 15-year-old gets
punished and probably has to wait a few
extra years before he or she gets their
license.
You don't arrest the owner of the car
and put him on trial. But if a 19-year-old
goes to a party and has a few drinks,
under her own will and judgement, why
is the person hosting the party at fault?
Isn't it the fault of the 19-year-old girl"?
No one forced Courtney Cantor to
drink. No one is saying the death of that
young lady in October was not a
tragedy. It is one of the saddest things I
have ever heard. But unless someone
pushed her out the window, it is not a
question of murder. A legal adult should
know what the legal drinking age is. If'
she chooses to imore it, then she should
be held responsible.
11er actions are just that - hers, and
no one else's. Why then is an entire fra-
ternity house disbanded and 10 fiatemi-
ty guys being blamed for the
irresponsibility of one person?
Tout Sow,
Daily letters are
as predictable as
Mad lib games
To THEDAILY-,
As a member of (group), I am
extremely offended by (any news story.
previous letter. campus event or any
other damned thing).
Having grown up in (trendy,
upscale, upper-class suburb), I am inti-
mately aware of the plight of (another
group). (Other person who holds an
opposing view) is obviously a
(racist/sexist"bigot,'etc.), and is, in fact,
a member of a vast
(racist/sexist/bigot/etc.) conspiracy.
making (him/her) worse than
(Hitler/Stalin/Lucifer). If we don't
(drive out/silence/decapitate) these
people, our society will crumble back
into (the Dark Ages/rubble/the Reagan

years).
Guess what, kids. Life is offensive.
Get over it, and move on with your
lives.
JASON MAILLOUx
22v99
Student activism
is getting out of
hand
To THE DAILY:
I am writing to you to announce the
creation of a new student action group.
The group, called IMBORED, was cre-
ated to protest the University's practice
of giving exams to students to measure
how well they have mastered a subject.
We currently have only one member,
but we will begin a membership drive
next week, and we expect to double that
number.
As our first protest, we plan to sit in
President Lee Bollinger's private bath-
room until he agrees to our demands,
which are totally arbitrary, and will
change as time passes. If Bollinger does
not have a private bathroom, then we
will sit in the public bathroom closest to
his office. Other protests planned
include sitting in the North Campus bell
tower until a clock is installed on it, and
sitting in my GSI's office until I receive
an automatic A.
If' anyone would like to join
IMBORED, then get a life.
RIcHARD KOWALZYK
Engiieeing sphomore
3,2699
'M' fans should
buy MSU game
tickets
To THE DAILY:
Attention all Maize Ragers, today,
Nov. 15, tickets for individual home
basketball games go on sale at the ath-
letic ticket ofice. I am writing to
encourage all Michigan basketball
fans, including those who who are
already season ticket holders, to pur-
chase tickets to the Michigan State
game, Feb. 1.
I have been a season ticket holder
for four years now, and I'll be hon-
est, the quality of basketball I've
seen in that time has been something
less than one would expect from
Michigan.
Despite this, I have always been
proud to support our team, but never
have I been more embarrassed with
my school than when I attended the
"home" game against Michigan State
last year-.
, The 4,000 or so MSU fans that were
present that night literally took over the

arena, booed our team over the rest of'
our cheers and basically made Crisler a
home away from home for the Spartans.
For your school. your team and your
fellow Maize Ragers, spend a few bucks
to keep the State fans out of Crisler
Arena this year. I can't think of a better
way to support the basketball team than
to deny an MSU Fn a chance to go to
thiat gam11e.
WILt .AM R LLANO
LA senior
11/1599
Artifacts should
go, Michigamua
should stay
To THE DAILY:
Michigamua has been in existence
on this campus since 1902. The group
has joined to promote the general good
of this campus by working on projects
through their respective organizations.
You don't hear of Michigamua holding
events and doing good things because
they work anonymously, through other
Sroups. None of them were on the 7th
floor of the Union last Saturday night
when the protesters occupied their office
because the majority of them were at
Dance Marathon, raising money for
charity.
To state that Michieamua has uti-
lized Native American rituals in the past
is true. To state that they were wrong in
doing so is also true. To state that all
Native American references and active
by the group should be removed is also
right. What hasn't been recognized is
that Michigamua has worked to
improve the University in ways most of
us can't even fathom for the past 98
years. To say that Michigamua is racist
is 100 percent incorrect. In fact,
Michigamua's spokesman is a very
prominent member of the campus Lati-
no community, and there is a higher per-
centage of minorities in Michigamua
than there is on campus. We need to see
that although Michigamua has had
problems in the past. they recognize
this, and the current protest is not sound-
ly founded.
I agree with the protest in that I
believe all Native American artifacts
and references should be immediately
removed. I disagree with the protest
because individual space has been vio-
lated, a group's private and special
details have been exposed to the public.
and last night I saw the American flag
flying upside down over the Union. This
is a blatant indication to me that the pro-
testers are not trying to work towards a
resolution: people being given tours of'
Michigamua are being led to believe
things that are not true of the organiza-
tion.
I ask you as students and community
members to please find out what
Michigamua is and has been before you
condemn it, and I ask University Presi-

dent Lee Bollinger for the immediate
removal of the protesters from the
tower.
MATHEwNOLAN
L.S 1 rht-iearstudent
. 10,00
Gore should
concede election
To THE DAILY:
In the interest of' national unity, I
urge you, Mr. Vice President, to con-
cede the election to President-elect
George W. Bush. Since you have
already conceded to him once, it should 7
not he as difficult the second time.
You have lost an election in Florida,
several recounts and several lawsuits
regarding those recounts. All cf' your -
efforts have failed. Any further attempt h
to gain the presidency at this time is a
shameless usurpation of tower. You
should have conceded immediately after
the vote certification. You would have
appeared much more honorable to the-.
nation which you have served for many
years. The best thing for you to do now
is to congenially concede this election
today.
JOSHUA BOSTWICK
LSA senaior
1,7,00 ,
Students need to
0dl courtroom

To THE DAILY:
After three years of building, today
we finally get our day in court. Today,
we begin to put racism and sexism in
this nation on trial. Today. we begin to
break down the racist lie of'black inferi-
ority put out by the Center for Inivid-
ual Rights and the right-wing of this
country.
Today the voice of the students, the
voice of the new mass militant inte-
grated youth-led Civil Rights Move-
ment will electrify the Detroit federal
court house! Today and tomorrow,
myself'and Erika Dowdell will be tes-
tifying to the social and educational
inequality that is the every day reality
of'black people in this nation and why
there is a profound need for affirma-
tive action. Despite the three years of'
being leaders in this new movement
for the defense of affirmative action,
despite our fight to become inter-
venors in the lawsuit and, even, despite
our intensive legal preparation over the
last few months our testimony will
mean nothing if the courtroom is not
filled to capacity with black, Latino,
Native American, Asian American and
progressive white students from the
University!
AGNES ALEOBUA
LSA sophomore
123/01

11
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