4A - The Michigan Daily - Monday, December 3, 2001 OP/ED alYe ,9a[irl 'rgtttt ttilg 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 C I hope he's found what he spent his life searching for." - Oasis guitarist Noel Gallagher, as quoted by The Times ofLondon on the death of the Beates' George Harrison, who always sought privacy in the face offame: WuAi WE Y0u WI'ML IkWE STAR.S IN TRESS CAP C014HRUALS. NEXT TIMEW QE of THEM URE ME TO DOHA E MY fNOMEY To SOME~ ALT~uksTtc cAusE, ILL IKNOW TO 'TELL P~ER 1O KISS MY ASS. J i/ / -' i', 7./ - -, ' 7 ;' E 4 0 M Defending (Ameican) Civilization JOHANNA HANINK PARLANCE OF OUR TLMES I Second-lady Lynne Cheney has been working the college circuit of late. She's fig- ured out what's wrong with American higher education. As it stands, it's just too un-American. Cheney, who helped found but has since moved on from her Amer- ican Council of Trustees and Alumni, praised the council's November report, "Defending Civilization: How our universities are failing America and what can be done about it." The report cites 115 instances of what Cheney and her old think tank pals have deemed to be the wave of unpatriotic senti- ment pouring forth from the faucets of the academy and flooding the minds of the impressionable students at colleges and uni- versities nationwide. Faculty and staff, students and administra- tors, guest speakers and journalists are all cited in the report which reads like a page torn from one of Sen. Joseph McCarthy's personal notebooks. Some of the most clearly "anti-American" examples that the Council has rooted out: 19.) "(We should) build bridges and rela- tionships, not simply bombs and walls." Speaker at Harvard Law School. 27.) "We have to learn to use courage for peace instead of war." Professor of religious studies, Pomona College 51.) "What you have to look at is the underlying reasons. Poverty breeds resentment and resentment breeds anger." Ivy League stu- dent. Cheney and her esteemed council think they've got it pegged. It's dangerous state- ments like these that are undermining the moral foundations of American institutions of higher education. And far be it from them to offer criticism without construct. Cheney's solution is to require, according to The Daily Princetonian, "for American colleges and universities to insti- tute core general education requirements, includ- ing required courses in American history." This suggestion may seem reasonable enough. What may not come through so clear- ly is the intended emphasis on the American part. Emphatic emphasis. As chair of the National Endowment for the Humanities from 1986 to 1993, Cheney became notorious for her unapologetic reluctance to fund grant pro- posals focused on non-traditional (or non- Western) topic areas or on issues of diversity and multiculturalism. It's baffling that under circumstances which so clearly dictate a need to educate our- selves about people other than ourselves, national figures are suggesting a recession into a narrow-minded focus on American history and American ideals. "We need to know, in a war, exactly what is at stake," Cheney is quot- ed on the cover page of the Defending Civi- lization report. This is true. But a look at American histo- ry without criticism and as merely an exercise in patriotism, without criticism and self-exam- ination gives us nothing but egos and others nothing but an excuse to hate. Perhaps this report is so shocking because the ideas are so ironically foreign. At the Uni- versity we may have been spoiled with calls for students to take foreign languages and crit- icism of the University and faculty for not responding with the teach-ins and a presence at rallies; from all directions we sought to feed our institutional nostalgia for the glory days of 1960s Michigan activism. But what's more frightening than the report is that it comes from the upper eschelon of this country's leadership and is an easy appeal to everyone who tears up, loves Ameri- ca and hates Muslims when they hear Alan Jackson's chart topper "Where were you (When the world stopped turning?)," the cho- rus of which goes: "I'm just a singer of simple songs/I'm not a real political man/I watch CNN but I'm not sure I could/Tell you the dif- ference in Iraq and Iran/But I know Jesus and I've talked to God/And I remember this from when I was young/Faith hope and love are some good things He gave us/And the greatest is Love" Lynne Cheney and her benign-sounding "American Council of Trustees and Alumni" have provided "intellectual justification" for the flags on radio antenna and the "United We Stand" that now graces Wendy's fast food bags. They've given validation to the cultural abomination that is currently mainstream America. It's our universities that we need to look to as the most likely places for educating this blindly-patriotic - and jingoistic - cul- ture out of us and leave the witch hunts to the history books that we'll be dusting off under the Cheney education plan. Johanna Hanink can be reached via e-mail atjhanink@unich.edu. I I Y LETTERS TO THE EDITOR 'U' regrets Wolverine Access interruption, appreciates input TO THE DAILY: First, I'd like to take this opportunity to apologize to those students who attempted to register last Monday and Tuesday. Students should be confident that the registration system is available when they need it and that it func- tions effectively. The situation last week was unexpected and unacceptable for all concerned. Second, I'd like to point out that the opin- ions expressed by Jennifer Ohren-Hoeft in the letter to the editor last Thursday ("... but stop whining") were her own, and not those of the M-Pathways Help Desk staff or management, or of Michigan Administrative Information Services, the organization that supports Web- based registration on Wolverine Access. Wolverine Access performance improved significantly early last Tuesday evening after a major problem was identified and resolved. Since then, students have been using it to regis- ter, drop and add classes, and check their class schedules. MAIS will continue to monitor Wolverine Access closely and provide infor- mation to the Registrar's Office to communi- cate to students. - We regret any negative perception that may have resulted from Ohren-Hoeft's letter that implies that M-Pathways Help Desk consultants do not appreciate or understand students' needs and expectations. The com- ments received from students this week were appropriate and appreciated, because they help us to improve our service to the University community. LISA MELLO The letter writer is manager of the M-Pathways Help Desk. 'U' must do more to curb ignorance To THE DAILY: Waj Syed is doing a real service to the Uni- versity by publicly relaying the hate crime he experienced ("Ignorance on the Union Steps," 11/28/01). Maybe now the University will address this problem. It is disappointing to see that the same rampant ignorance about that part of the world still peers its ugly head frequently at the Uni- versity. When I was a senior two years ago, I received a crudely written note on my South Quad door asserting that the solution to the sanctions that leave so many Iraqis dead, was to "kill more." It is because of Syed's testimony on these pages that the need for institutional attention is apparent. When I was there, I worked hard to make sure Arab-Americans and Muslims were included into multicultural discourse; that they were an accepted segment of the American mosaic. I looked at the University as a leader in civil rights and multiculturalist thinking. However, the University took no useful steps at actively including one of the largest eth- nic groups in the state and the fastest-growing religion in the country. If perhaps, Arabs and Muslims were not as readily and easily vilified, it would be more politically expedient to address their concerns institutionally. The Uni- versity allows pervasive ignorance to persevere instead of doing what -it can to make a safe and hospitable environment for people of Middle Eastern and South Asian ancestry. Syed's elo- quence in describing his assault should not remain unacted upon. WILL YOUMANS Alumnus What's the big deal with racial profiling? To THE DAILY: Why is everyone complaining about racial profiling? While not the greatest of all ides in theory, in today's society such actions are more than justified. As the government continues its investigation into Sept. 11, if it had the time and money to interrogate every individual in the United States, it probably would. However, because of limited resources and time, beginning the search with members of the Muslim community, especially those who were raised in those countries where Al-Qaeda net- works exist, is the best approach. I understand the need to prevent acts of prejudice and unwar- ranted harrasment, such as those Waj Syed reported in his Nov. 28 column ("Ignorance on the Union steps"), however we as a nation need to ensure our safety as well. If this means that members of the community are investigated simply because of the religion or upbringing, I whole-heartedly condone such measures. Louis KRANE LSA senior 0 Y VIEWPOINT Envisioned state will give Palestinians 'due rights' BY ASHRAF JOSEPH David Post's "Palestinian statehood: An all or nothing affair" (11/26/01) falls short of being objective in its assessment of historical facts as well as conjures up a very selective perspective of the Israeli leadership's handling of the Pales- tinian issue. Firstly, with regard to Ben-Gurion's vision of "full and equal citizenship and repre- sentation" by Arab "inhabitants" of the state of Israel, I wonder if Ben-Gurion himself, would have heen sard t o se that the IsraliParliament remark "One-thousand UN resolutions could not nullify Israel's first obligation is to provide security to its citizens." Based on the countless UN resolutions that Israel has failed to imple- ment such as 242, 338, and 194, I would have no choice but to believe him. Moreover, it is short-sighted to assume that an acceptance of Barak's proposal would "end the suffering of the Palestinian population." Aside from the fact that Palestinians have already accepted Israel's existence on 78 per- cent of what "was" Palestine and the fact that bases and roads, which are only open for Israelis. ("Say No to a Palestinian 'State,"' 11/13/01, Ran HaCohen anti-war.com). How this resembles a state that will end the suffering of the Palestinians is a mystery to me. The Palestinians are desperately in need of land, which Israeli settlements are not helping. They need to have jurisdiction over their own water supply. It is amazing how, for example in Hebron, 85 percent of the water is given to about 400 Israeli settlers, while 15 percent must be divided among Hebron's 120,000 Palestini- I * ::::::.