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September 28, 2001 - Image 17

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The Michigan Daily, 2001-09-28

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8 - The Michigan Daily - FooTBALL SATURDAY -. Friday, September 28, 2001
Wee Mitly STREET N What's the role of academia during
tm R O ANN ABORMI 48109a
dailyleters@umich.edu tim e? 'Death threat' calls on U' to silence student opposition, will
".non-mainstream 9/11 analysis survive in higher education?

Friday, September 28, 2001- FOOTBALL SATURDAY - The Michigan Daily - 5B
PRELUDE To A GRUDGE MATCH
Michig an looks sluggish in 38- wins:

GEOFFREY GAGNON
EDITED AND MANAGED BY Editor in Chief
STUDENTS AT THE
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN MICHAEL GRASS
SINCE 1890 NICHOLAS WOOMER
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.

MICHAEL GRASS
ATX Mlt L E1 RloAl

C ampus: you
have been
T warned. You
r. are being watched. And
if there are any more anti-war protests,
there could be hell to pay - perhaps
even with your life.
That's according to a threatening let-
ter that was forwarded to the Daily fol-
lowing last Thursday's anti-war protest.
Readers may interpret it as a death
threat. The author may have meant it as a
joke, but it may very well be serious.
Below are portions of the letter, which
has not been edited for grammar,
spelling or punctuation. Judge for your-
self.
what does it take for the yellow bastards
that your school breedsthe cellow bas-
tard war protestorsto realize that this
war is a must-must situation!!do then not
watch tv?do thev not care of theirfellow
americans?do i have to come to your
school premises with a bus and pick
them up at gunpoint,to load them tip on
a bus -to take them to NewYork city
myself to open their peabrain eyes so
thev can have a closer glimpse into the
eves of evil and the depths of hell at
ground zeroand make them get on their
goddamn hands and kneeshit them in
the stomach so thee have to breathe real
hard and deepand smell the godawful
stench of all the dead americans that
were killed by the terrorists that created
the CAUSE of this 4AR.whats the matter
with those yellow streek up their asses
students?
... thee are very lucky that i was 'nt in
ann arbor during this protest.sou had
better warn vour students NOT TO
STAGE ANY MORE PROTESTS
AGAINST AMERICANS FIGHTING
FOR FREEDOM .believe vou me,it will
not end with peace on their side.im a
patrioticlaw abiding ,good red blooded
anerican citizen and belong to a large
and powerfill organization known
wtorldtwide. tou could sav we are the
US.A.s GHOST battallion.we fight for
the red white and blues causes. when the
govt. is 100% right, without any shadow
of a doubtand when the govt.cant solve
the problem withinjust means in the eves
of the public,no matter how hard thee
trythen we take over the fight of that
cetain cause.
... no matter how ruthless our
method may bein the eees of all
humankind our ends justify the
means.we all live by the code "iget
cut,my brother bleeds,my brother gets
cut,i bleed",in other words if these pea
brains dont understand what brother-
hood is all about,they are notfit to be an
americanor live on my american
soil.with this letter they have been
WARNED!!!!
.what these cowards need is a taste
of terrorism i guessin order not to
protest our country engaging in war to
rid this evil.im ashamed to let my other
brothers and sisters from other states
know i/live in a state that has a presti-
geous school that allows their students

to protest against all the dead americans
honorfom newYork and washington.if it
happens again thee will be dealt
with.you can take that to the bank.do
they belong to a terrorist organiza-
tion???tell them to remember whatpres-
ident Bush said about terrorists. "your
with us ,or tour against us "and i n
organization waves the same flag presi-
dent Bush wavesgod bless his sole.these
students will be filmed .photos will be
madeof them ,the will be followed to
their homesand their address' will be
recorded.they then will be filed as sus-
pects. my organization will not be as
lenient with these eellow cowards when
the sword of swiftjustice swingsas their
parents were when thee were caught
doing what the wereforbidden to doas
children.these kids need a wake tip call
and I hope this warning reaches them to
do just that.thank you......
What does a letter like this signify?
Obviously, it's primary intention is to
scare campus with an ultimate goal of
silencing anti-war sentiments among
students. If interpreted on a broader
level, this letter signals what's happening
across the nation - a backlash against
alternative unpopular thought in our
time of deep crisis. Interestingly enough,
a letter like this this has a significant
impact on academia.
The letter writer asks why the
University allows such un-American
activities to take place on campus. And
when you consider that, one must ques-
tion the role of a university during times
of war.
Some television pundits we've heard
the past two weeks contend that during
our time of crisis, the nation must restrain
itself and censor alternative thought that
could be construed as un-American. By
doing that, national morale is strong.
But if that is taken literally, that
means that criticism of American foreign
policy and U.S. military actions must be
suppressed for the betterment of the
homefront. For example, pointing out
that two great empires were slaughtered
in Afghanistan could become a taboo
subject, banished from national discus-
sion. In a nutshell, some in this nation
right now want nothing more than
American flags and "God Bless
America." Nobody wants to hear about
why the presence of U.S. forces in
Pakistan may tear that nation apart.
To very patriotic Americans, like
many people in this nation, including the
writer of the threatening letter, times of
national crises call for the country to
stand together and place all faith in the
government. That's how the United
States succeeded in World War II. And
some blame the U.S. defeat in Vietnam
on the the lack of unity at home.
Much of the opposition to that con-
flict was fostered on university campus-
es nationwide - including here in Ann,
Arbor. It wasn't just students yelling and
screaming. There was activism in the
classroom as well. Whether you interpret
that activism as education or anti-war

indoctrination, what's discussed in the
nation's lecture halls may not always be
in sync with the patriotic interests of the
nation.
But our "New War" is not Vietnam.
Will debates in our political science lec-
tures or American history discussion
sections temper criticism of the govern-
ment or delve beneath the surface and
analyze the hell out of the United States'
role in the world?
As seen from last Thursday's anti-
war rally, there are people who are dar-
ing enough to challenge mainstream
American thought and oppose the war.
We've seen teach-ins where panelists
have indicated that the tragedies of Sept.
11 will force the U.S. to change its glob-
al attitude.
That's not too comforting to people
who only want to see Old Glory and
ticker tape parades down Broadway.
Just like during the Gulf War, the
University is probably not going to take
a position on the anti-war/pro-war
debate. And for good reason. The role of
the University is to provide a forum
where ideas can be exchanged and
debated. But many ideas that stand in
stark contrast to the American national
consensus have been attacked so far.
Last year, the University came under
fire from conservatives across the state
for an English course offering titled
"How to be Gay." If a political science
professor wanted to offer a course titled
"Why America is swrong" will the
University bow to outside pressure to
suppress those views?
During the 1950s, the University
forced professors suspected to be affili-
ated with the Communist Party to resign.
Today, the threat isn't the Soviet Union,
it's Osama bin Laden and terrorism. But
if patriotism subverts academic freedom,
then I fear we could be facing a new un-
American witchunt. Although it is hard
to predict how the national consensus on
the coming war will steer higher educa-
tion, it's the University's duty to not
revisit the days of McCarthyism.
Hopefully my fears are unfounded.
University President Lee Bollinger, a
noted First Amendment scholar asked
professors and graduate student instruc-
tors to engage their classes in discus-
sions about the terrorist attacks in the
days following Sept. 11. I hope this will
continue. I also hope that' in the uncer-
tain days ahead, our society will be able
to tolerate views that clash with the
mainstream American consensus on the
war. Many of the ideas we've heard
about pacifism and peace are idealistic
and unrealistic, but there are others that
are quite rational. On the flip-side, there
are other arguments supporting war that
are just as rational.
If our national consensus moves
toward the censorship of academic free-
dom, the University must foster an envi-
ronment where even the most ridiculous,
unpopular ideas are heard loud and clear.
Michael Grass can be reached
via e-mailat mgrass@timich.edut.

By ArunGopal
Daily Sports Writer
It certainly wasn't pretty, but it still
counts as a 'W.'
This-oft-used sports axiom is one
that the Michigan football team might
be ' reciting to itself after last
Saturday's less-than-impressive 38-21
victory over Western Michigan. Paced
by three touchdowns - two of them
rushing - by B.J. Askew, the.
Wolverines completed their noncon-
ference schedule with a 2-1 record.
Still, Saturday's victory left a lot to
be desired, a fact Michigan coach
Lloyd Carr was all too willing to point
out after the game.
"If the nonconference schedule is
supposed to prepare you for the Big
Ten schedule, then we've got a lot of
work to do," Carr said.
Western Michigan's first posses-
sion of the game should have been an
indication that this was going to be a
bumpy day for the Wolverines. Led by
quarterback Jeff Welsh, the Broncos'
spread offense caused all -sorts of
problems for Michigan's pass defense.
Starting at his own 26-yard line,
Welsh completed four of five passes
for 52 yards as Western Michigan
methodically drove into Michigan ter-
ritory. But Victor Hobson's sack of
" "
unbeaten,
wins 34-1
CHAMPAIGN (AP) - Each week,
Christian Morton predicts he'll score a
touchdown. He finally came through
against No. 25 Louisville.
The Illinois cornerback intercepted
two passes, returning the first 33 yards
for a score, in the Illini's 34-10 victory
over the Cardinals (3-1) last week.
"It's my first year at the position but
I expect to come out every week and
do this," the sophomore said. "I knew
it was six."
This was a matchup of two of the
best quarterbacks in the country -
Illinois' Kurt Kittner and Louisville's
Dave Ragone. Surprisingly, neither of
them dominated the game. The Illini
defense took over this game, which
will bode well for Illinois in the Big
Ten race.
Kittner made some solid plays, but
he had a couple of poor throws and
bad decisions mixed in there.
Fortunately for Illinois fans, their
defense handled Ragone well after the
first quarter and forced five turnovers.
Illinois (3-0) forced Louisville into
committing five turnovers, repeatedly
pressuring Dave Ragone into making

Welsh on a third-and-two play from
the Michigan 20-yard line - the first
of Michigan's seven sacks on the day
- forced the Broncos' Robert
Menchinger to attempt a 44-yard field
goal, which he left a good five yards
short.,
Michigan's offense - which rolled
up 472 yards on the day - took
advantage of the missed opportunity
by driving 73 yards in nine plays.
With the ball at Western's 41-yard
line, Michigan quarterback John
Navarre tossed a screen pass to
Askew, who raced untouched down
the left sideline-for the touchdown.
"You never know exactly what I'm
going to do back there," Askew said.
"Every time I was out there, they were
yelling 'Screen! Screen!', but I was
running and the blocking was awe-.
some."
Michigan extended its lead to 10-0
before Western Michigan got on the
board. Following a Michigan punt,
Western Michigan tailback Phillip
Reed took a handoff on a seemingly
simple draw play, cut to his left and
rumbled 37 yards. On the next play,
Welsh hit wideout Micah Zuhl for a
17-yard touchdown, cutting the
Broncos' deficit to 10-7.
But the Wolverines snuffed out any
possible momentum the Broncos

might have had by driving 78 yards in
five plays on the ensuing possession.
The big play came when Navarre con-
nected with Calvin Bell for a 47-yard
gain down to the Broncos' 13-yard
line. Three plays later, Askew took a
sweep around the left end and ran
eight yards for his second touchdown,
extending Michigan's lead to 17-7.
If Western Michigan could've gone
into the lockerroom only down 10 at
halftime, the Broncos would have
been satisfied. But Welsh committed
a critical error when he was intercept-
ed by Todd Howard at the Michigan
35-yard line with just over a minute to
play in the half.
Navarre wasted little time capitaliz-
ing on the turnover. One the third play
of the possession, Navarre lofted a
40-yard bomb to Marquise Walker,
who made a fingertip catch in the
endzone that broke the Broncos'
backs.
"I thought the biggest play of the
game was Todd Howard's interception
before the half," Carr said. "We hit a
big play there. John made a great
throw, and Marquise caught the ball
for a touchdown."
Despite holding a 24-7 lead at half-
time, Michigan couldn't be too proud
of itself. The biggest problem for the
Wolverines - one that continued in

the second half-- was penalties.
Michigan was whistled for 13
penalties in the game, nine in the first
half alone. Six of those nine penalties
were either offsides or false start vio-
lations.
"That's ridiculous," Carr said about
the penalties. "This is the third game
of the year. You should have 13 penal-
ties in three games. It's just unaccept-

able."
With the game essentially over by
halftime, the second half was devoid
of any drama. The Wolverines and
Broncos traded touchdowns in both
the third and fourth quarters, althopgh
Western Michigan's final touchdown
came with no time left on the clock
and most of the remaining fans itch-
ing for the game to end.

Illinois jumped all over previously unbeaten Louisville last week and won, 3440.

A 'AlOtN 'Cu.IRl'ltER
AFRKAN- AE TO THAT, BB, AND
t some t ss we i
%uZE THAT
tsteto i

poor throws. The quarterback was
sacked three times and finished 22-of-
39 for 309 yards with one touchdown
and three interceptions.
The Illini defense, a major concern
heading into the season for coach Ron
Turner, held the Cardinals to 338 total
yards and all but stopped the
Louisville ground game. The
Cardinals had 29 rushing yards on 25
carries.
Illinois has forced 12 turnovers
through three games this season while'
turning the ball over only twice on
offense.
"We stress that a lot. Our defense
has done a tremendous job of getting
turnovers." Turner said. "Games like

this are why I love to coach. This was
one of the most fun gams I can
remember coaching."
The Illini outgained Louisville 504-
338, with.203 of those yards coming
on the ground for the team"s best
rushing performance this season.
Antoineo Harris led Illinois with
102 yards on 22 carries and one touch-
down.
Kurt Kitner got off to a strong start
after an inconsistent game two weeks
ago against Northern Illinois. Kittner
completed nine of his first 12 passes,
se last a 9-yard scoring pass to Carey
Davis to put the Illini up 10-7. Illinios
then went up 17-7 on Morton"s inter-
ception return.

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