100%

Scanned image of the page. Keyboard directions: use + to zoom in, - to zoom out, arrow keys to pan inside the viewer.

Page Options

Download this Issue

Share

Something wrong?

Something wrong with this page? Report problem.

Rights / Permissions

This collection, digitized in collaboration with the Michigan Daily and the Board for Student Publications, contains materials that are protected by copyright law. Access to these materials is provided for non-profit educational and research purposes. If you use an item from this collection, it is your responsibility to consider the work's copyright status and obtain any required permission.

October 19, 2001 - Image 4

Resource type:
Text
Publication:
The Michigan Daily, 2001-10-19

Disclaimer: Computer generated plain text may have errors. Read more about this.

4 - The Michigan Daily - Friday, October 19, 2001

OP/ED

Ulbe **irbijjuu DZiIQ

420 MAYNARD STREET
ANN ARBOR, MI 48109
daily.letters@umich.edu

EDITED AND MANAGED BY
STUDENTS AT THE
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
SINCE 1890

GEOFFREY GAGNON
Editor in Chief
MICHAEL GRASS
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.

NOTABLE
QUOTABLE
If not, we'll
go to war
against him."
-Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon
as quoted in the Maariv newspaper,
giving Yasser Arafat one week to turn
over all Palestinian militants
or face direct retaliation.

f JUSTR VE WEEKS &O,
/ l~s WO)b% ALL.
U/ UEBL..

0

Time to study?
REBECCA ISENBERG ONE TURNTABLE AND A MICROPHONE
It's that time of year almost six weeks. So you have to think quickly say, write this column, and the girls who live
again. No, not the time and not let anyone distract you on the way. above you start playing, "All I want for Christ-
a of year when love is in This will be the hardest part. mas" by Mariah Carey for absolutely no rea-
the air. And not the time of Most people who find themselves in this sit- son. Or for a reason. If this happens to you,
year when the weather is uation are not alone. Chances are your friends don't let it tear you away from copying your
getting warmer. Instead, are also slackers. And chances are they may not friends' lecture notes.
it's the time of year when be so ready to change their slacker ways. So Another distraction, which sometimes
you quickly have to remind don't let them persuade you not to start hitting seems like something productive in disguise, is
yourself why you attend a the books. They may use many tactics. As e-mail. You may tell yourself that your check-
university to begin with. Where you have to you're packing your things to go to the library, ing your e-mail twenty times "for class." But
remember that you actually do have classes, a new concept for you altogether, they may try let's get serious. Checking your e-mail has
and that these classes have actually had assign- to stop you. They may try and lure you in by nothing to do with midterms. Unless someone
ments since September 5. And if you're like me laughing uproariously at the syndicated Sein- is e-mailing you the test, which they're not,
this time of year can be scary. Yes, I said it - feld episode that's on. "Look it's the one where you're really just wasting precious moments
It's Midterms. George says, 'the jerk store called and said logging into Pine.
In theory, a midterm should be a simple they're running out of you."' Your roommate Procrastination when you're studying, can
thing. It's only testing half a semester's worth may call to you. And even though this is a clas- often be blamed on your stomach. You may
of information. And in theory, you should have sic and it may be your favorite episode, ignore have eaten dinner five minutes before you sat
already completed all the reading, been to every her plea and keep moving. down to teach yourself everything you ever
lecture, and been fully prepared for this little Once you get to the library you may wanted to know about plant biology, but it's
test that should gauge how you're doing in the encounter even more distractions. You're prob- safe to say that before you've reached the end
class so far. Unfortunately this theory does not ably going to see many people that you know. of chapter one your stomach will be growling.
always work out for most of us. And we find Because around this time of year, the library And wouldn't it be wrong to deny yourself
ourselves scrounging around to pick up the quickly becomes the scene of all scenes. It food and all the basic nutrients needed to sur-
pieces of the slacking that we've done all looks like a frat party that's gone academic. vive? It would be but in this case, eating is just
semester. Because we still haven't remembered Everyone has their full backpacks, is wearing an excuse. And it's too late for excuses.
how to do work, since the University does give their glasses and is hitting the books. But don't If you're able to stand your ground and
us almost four months off each summer to for- let them fool you because they're probably just keep your head in the books until that midterm
get. as behind as you. You also cannot let them dis- arrives you'll most likely be in good shape.
Getting back into work mode is tough. You tract you. You may feel tempted to talk to your You'll get an A and feel confident enough in
have to be willing to sacrifice everything friends, the familiar faces calling out your your grade to slack off for the remainder of the
you've been doing that has been getting in the name, begging you to procrastinate. But you semester. Just in time for finals.
way of your studying in the first place. Because must walk past them. That is unless, they're in
chances are you have less than 48 hours to your class and willing to give you information. Rebecca Isenberg can be reached
learn information that has been taught for Sometimes you'll be trying to study or let's via e-mail at risenber@umich.edu.
V LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Y VIEWPOINT
What does Jesse know about BAMN?

.
.
.
,.
.
r
,
.
.
r
. ,,
, ,

BY JIM SECRETO
Today, the Rev. Jesse Jackson, famed civil
rights leader and founder of the
Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, will speak at a rally
to promote affirmative action sponsored by the
Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action By
Any Means Necessary. The event comes just
four days before a federal court of appeals in
Cincinnati examines the University's use of
affirmative action in admissions.
The rally, which is being dubbed as a kick-
off to an even larger BAMN event in Cincin-
nati on Tuesday, will take place in the
Michigan League Ballroom at noon. And Jack-
son, along with BAMN, will likely take center
stage as the media descends on the campus to
see him. Yet it is unclear if Jackson knows
what an increasing number of students under-
stand about the sponsors of today's rally -
that BAMN is a divisive force in the defense
of affirmative action and a Trotskyist organiza-
tion controlled by non-student activists.
Obviously, Jackson has an interest in pre-
serving affirmative action at the University.
But if he really knew the history of the
unprecedented number of problems BAMN
creates on campus, would he really choose to
affiliate himself with this organization?
There are two possible explanations for Jack-
son's participation in today's rally: Either Jack-
son knows the truth about BAMN or he doesn't.
No matter which explanation is correct, both
scenarios create a situation that could be damag-
ing to Jackson and affirmative action as well.
If Jackson is unaware of BAMN's true
identity, he could get himself into a problem

when they inevitably start screaming about
mass militancy, ostracizing - as they always
do - affirmative action's more moderate sup-
porters. As the leader of an organization that
strives to unite people from a variety of differ-
ent ethnic, religious, economic and political
backgrounds, Jackson makes a careless deci-
sion to align himself with an organization that
has a less-than-friendly relationship with
minority and activist groups on campus. A
simple inquiry to minority and activist leaders
at the University would have provided Jackson
with this information, so if he is still unaware
of BAMN's lack of legitimacy in the campus
community, his lack of knowledge demon-
strates reckless behavior that could hurt the
defense of affirmative action.
If Jackson does understand BAMN's Trot-
skyite tendencies, his appearance at today's
rally represents the worse aspects of oppor-
tunism. Working with an organization regard-
less of their ideology would be an insult to the
groups on campus that have had to bear the
brunt of BAMN's wrath.
Despite a poor decision by Jackson or any
controversy created by BAMN, affirmative
action at the University faces its toughest chal-
lenge yet. If Jackson's presence brings positive
attention to the appeals, it will matter little who
sponsored today's rally. But if the increased
attention allows BAMN to embarrass him and
hinder the defense of affirmation action, Jack-
son will have no one to blame but himself.
LSA senior Jim Secreto, former vice president of
the Michigan Student Assembly, is a
member ofthe Daily's editorial board.

Livshiz' viewpoint
'hurtful,' full of
'empty accusations'
TO THE DAILY:
I was absolutely disturbed after reading
David Livshiz' article on the "roots" of ter-
rorism, ("Hatred of U.S. stems from hate in
schools," 11/18/01). Livshiz indicts the
entire "Arab" population, which spans 22
countries, about 250 million people and is
rich with cultural and religious diversity, as
individuals who are trained to not only
"hate" the U.S. but to also "blow themselves
up ... to kill Americans."
Livshiz, like his cohort Jeremy Menchik,
paints an obnoxious picture of Nazi-like
operations where school grounds are noth-
ing more than "future terrorists" camps.
Livshiz purposefully ignores, inter alia,
how Arabs from Algeria to Yemen and their
governments, have been unequivocal and
categorical in their condemnation of the
Sept. 11 atrocities. Livshiz also closes his
eyes to the fact that the vast majority of
Palestinians view the terrorists responsible
as no more than villains, who have never
showed interest in Palestinian politics until
now and that Sept. I1 had nothing to do
with the Palestinian struggle for indepen-
dence.
This strategy of blaming "Arab" society
as the root cause of terrorism is not only
dangerous, but is hurtful. Most of us are
aware of the consequences of constructing
the evil monolith, which Livshiz's castigat-
ing article seeks to accomplish. As a
reminder, Israeli inflammatory actions in
southern Lebanon as well as the brutal
oppression of Palestinians are a direct result
of portraying Arabs as no more than terror-
ists.
Livshiz may want to evaluate his educa-
tion first before casting these empty accusa-
tions at the peace-loving peoples of the
Arab world.
ALMAN MACKIE
Rackham
The letter writer is also student in the
Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy.
MSA not legitimate
governing body
TO THE DAILY:
This past Tuesday evening, I resigned

Scarcity of anthrax
vaccine 'not FDA's fault'

TO THE DAILY:
The Daily's editorial entitled
"Anthrax concerns grow: U.S. must
expedite vaccine approval" (10/16/01)
sorely misses the underlying flaws of
our health care system.
Whereas the anthrax vaccine has
been developed and approved for its use,
the manufacturer of the vaccine, BioPort
Corporation, has failed to meet basic
"Good Manufacturing Practice" regula-
tions issued by the Food and Drug
Administration. It is not the FDA's fault
that this company cannot afford to com-
ply with basic safety regulations. Rather,
it is the fault of our government's insis-
tence that health care should be subject
to the crushing blows of a free market
economy.
Sadly, the absence of a competent
manufacturer for the anthrax vaccine is
only the latest example of our follies in
free market health care. The most poignant
example of the failure of privatized health
care is the inexcusable number of Ameri-
cans who lack health coverage.
Most of the 40 million uninsured
Americans have jobs and belong to a
class of society called "the working
poor." Interestingly, until last month Bio-
Port and the uninsured shared a common
experience in America. They both offered
services that our society deemed too
menial for proper economic recompense.
Hence, the uninsured are left without the

Recent cases of anthrax sent through the
mail have postal workers on guard.
coverage they deserve and BioPort owns
a factory that cannot produce a widely
needed vaccine. Surely, the time has
come for a nationalized health care sys-
tem that places people before profits.
AMER ARDATI
Medical Student

feeling on campus without going to imprac-
tical extremes such as polling the students.
The only ways to determine the feeling of
the student body and campus community at
large are either by directly communicating
with them, or listening to them during the
60 minutes allotted each Tuesday evening
during MSA meetings. There can be little
doubt that had the resolution been made
public even just 24 hours in advance, that
meeting would have been filled with Uni-
versity students who would have voiced
their opinions.
Two hours is not enough time for a rep-
resentative to decide how his/her con-
stituents want him/her to vote on a
resolution that makes such a large statement
as supporting the war efforts. Alongside this
is the fact that this resolution was brought
,,, ~ ~raC-Ei rax f-r thn ..a e- haa

protest of this, I have resigned my seat on
the assembly. Many might say that I am
walking out on my job, and I am walking
out on my constituents. To them, all I can
say is that the assembly did that for me
when they decided to collectively ignore the
student body in passing a resolution that
served their interests first.
FADI KIBLAWI
LSA junior
LETTERS POLICY
The Michigan Daily welcomes letters from all
of its readers. Letters from University students,
faculty, staff and administrators will be given
priority over others. Letters must include the
writer's name, phone number and school year or
University affiliation. The Daily will not print any
lerrer rhar cannot be verified. Ad hominem attacks

be

Back to Top

© 2024 Regents of the University of Michigan