0I 4 - The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, February 20, 2002 OP/ED aloe £lirituu tti[g 420 MAYNARD STREET ANN ARBOR, MI 48109 letters@michigandaily.com EDITED AND MANAGED BY STUDENTS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN SINCE 1890 JON SCHWARTZ Editor in Chief JOHANNA HANINK Editorial Page Editor 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 The researchers say this 'rock and roll lifestyle' is casting serious doubts over the future health of the nation." - From yesterday's BBC news segment, "Britons perfer pub culture tofitness.' - i J la A fc\rn'4 CHIP CULLEN G RINDING THE NIB nn V inWr .in9 Break -oo e~p~s k1 Fein;q, / ~Y ~tt4ov.~AI & 6L " Za. oz. C, pCar#-oanffl@.oMa~ 'co A.~ The PC. Police kidnapped my baby! And other real-life aviation horror stories MANISH RAIJI NOTHING CATCHY !" x' f>hast weekend marked the third time I've been on a plane since Sept. 11. Next weekend will be the fourth. Was I struck by the preponderance of racial profiling? Was I humiliated by a security team that violated my rights simply because I look dif- ferent? Was I outraged when I was singled out for "random" security checks? No. But in trading in my outrage, I also trad- ed in my own sense of safety. During a security check at Detroit Metro very soon after Sept. 11, I took special care to look around me in line and get a sense of my competition. All this hype about racial profiling had me convinced that I would get a thorough checking, while all the white suburban families around me would only get the once-over. Much to my surprise, I (a tall, young male, traveling alone with nothing but a backpack) didn't get pulled aside. My bag wasn't checked, I wasn't frisked, I wasn't even asked to remove my hat. Genuinely shocked, I looked to see who had gotten selected for random searches; there was a little boy getting the metal detector wand while his parents looked on. There was an old lady in a wheelchair and another middle-aged man getting their bags searched. For a moment, I felt a serious threat to my masculinity. In assessing the threat of the people in line, the security personnel actually decided that a little kid, a disabled old lady and a guy with a potbelly were more threatening than me? And then I realized it: They aren't assessing anything. In some vague attempt to appear unbi- ased, airport security personnel are bending over backwards to check every blind person with polio that walks through their gate while smiling politely and waving through everyone with a sheathed machete hanging around his waist. Last weekend, on my way to my gate at the Newark International Airport, I was standing in the security line when a black man was pulled aside. As he removed his shoes, his wife stood in the background complaining (loudly) about racial profiling. "You only picked us because we're black!" The security guard tried assuring her that this was randomized, that he wasn't picking people by their looks, etc. He was fighting a los- ing battle; she was of the type who has been indoctrinated with the unfortunate minority mentality that anything that happens to you is because of racism. Didn't get the job? Racism. Didn't get a 4.0? Racism. Got pulled over (going 98 mph in a 65 mph zone)? Racism. Lost your keys? Racism. So the security guard finished with the black man and turned to pick the next "random" search. He had three choices; I was standing there (directly in front of him, might I add) wait- ing for my bag to clear the x-ray machine, two teenaged girls were walking through the metal detector, yammering on about "ohmigawd, did you see the promise ring that Freddie Prinze, Jr., gave to Sarah Michelle Gellar? She's like, so lucky! He's is sooooooooo dreamy!" Behind them was a mother with her little boy, who was carrying a Pok6mon backpack. He picked one of the Freddie Prinze, Jr., girls. I, once again, was forced to question my masculinity. No offense to the little girl with the In Style magazine, but I'm more of a threat than she is! At Detroit Metro, on my way to India over winter break with my mom, I was chosen (I can only assume randomly) to have my bags searched while the guy in front of me (who had a Turkish passport and was traveling alone) walked through unquestioned. At Bishop Air- port in Flint, I walked through security (alone) with not even an eyelash batted in my direction while a soccer mom (embroidered sweatshirt and all) was forced to remove her hairpins. The point isn't that I'm guilty. I know that I have never had an inclination to hijack a plane, blow up a building or do anything even resembling terrorism. But I look suspicious - not just because of the color of my skin. But the color of my skin and other colors with similar melanin contents seem to be a "Get Out of Jail Free" card; security personnel are scared to question minorities. I don't know about anyone else, but this racial hypersensitivity has killed my sense of security. It appears as if airline security is doing its best to find the least likely threats in a given batch of travelers and check them with extreme caution, allowing the most obvious threats to walk by. The airline industry is sending a clear mes- sage to every terrorist: If you want to hijack a plane, don't disguise yourself as an innocuous traveler. Don't dress or act as if you are not suspicious. Instead, make yourself as threatening as pos- sible. Travel alone, have bizarre flight sched- ules, appear angry and menacing. Because it seems that the only way to be scrutinized as a likely threat in the airport these days is to be a teenage girl or a quadriplegic. Manish Rani can be reached at mraqi@umich.edu. 01 LETTERS TO THE EDITOR C 9 Seibert's 'defeatist attitude' unfortunate; he should show 'a little more sympathy' To THE DAILY: I am dismayed at Dustin J. Seibert's column in yesterday's Daily about his negative impressions of graduate student instructorss (How many GSIs does it take to screw in a Lightbulb?, 2/19/02). I have a different perspective on what GSIs do at this Uni- versity, not because I have been one, but because my husband is a GSI in the Department of Biolo- gy. As I write this, he is missing one of his own classes to substitute teach another section of the course he normally teaches. Seibert is correct in writing that the workload of teaching while also being a grad student is intense; my husband spends 10 hours a week in lecture, teaching lab sections, or in meetings with the professor and the other GSI to prepare for teaching. Add to this another several hours grading quizzes, writing up worksheets, doing the reading for the class, holding office hours (which no student has come to yet this semester) and holding review sessions (which students often ask for but do not often attend) and he averages 20 hours a week being a GSI for this course. Because my husband is committed to teach- ing, this 20-hour-a-week investment takes a high priority, even compared to his own classes and research. Every day when we get home and talk, it is clear to me that my husband really wants to do the best he can at teaching you, the under- graduates of this institution. Most GSIs I know are far happier when their students are doing well, not only because it reflects well on them, but also because it is much more satisfying to see students understanding and using the knowledge that GSIs have worked so hard to convey. It really makes my husband's day to get positive feedback from a student - when was the last time you told your GSI that he or she was doing a good job? - and he continu- ally asks his students how he can improve their learning in the class, and implements their sug- gestions. For example, last semester the students in his sections needed more opportunity to ask questions, so he had all the students submit a question every week and he spent many hours typing out answers to all these questions and sending them out via e-mail. In this way he could tell what concepts the students needed more help with. different from him in age and education, maybe he could offer a little more sympathy for their situation rather than focusing on all the stuff they're doing wrong. GINNY ZAWISTOWSKI Medical School staff Hanink 'fails to grasp the nature and complexity of sports' To THE DAILY: After reading Johanna Hanink's article, Sports, Part 1: Question Why You Care (2/18/02), I would like to ask Hanink a question: How are sports any different from other forms of entertainment she may or may not have an aversion to? Sport is an entity in itself, just- like theatre, music or art. Just because Hanink fails to grasp the nature and complexity of sports doesn't mean they "don't matter," as she crudely wrote Mon- day. I might not be interested in how Henrik Ibsen's third phase of dramas centered around symbolism, but at least I don't chastise his plays for being worthless. Moreover, sports employ a positive, therapeu- tic aspect in that they allow injury or sickness- plagued people to triumph over adversity. When Lance Armstrong won his third consecutive Tour de France last summer after becoming stricken with testicular cancer, aside from providing the sports fans of the United States with a memorable exhibition of strength, finesse and endurance, he also provided a wonderful illustration to those with debilitating illnesses that through hard work, extraordinary accomplishments are still within reach. Although I disagree, go ahead and call sports boring. Make fun of sports fans for being obses- sive - I don't really care. But if you make the claim that "sports don't matter," I start to ques- tion how much thought you put into the subject. JON ROSEN School of Music junior SAGA continues to promote awareness; Daily's editorial board missed mark our parties and why we carry ourselves the way we do. The leadership of the Greek community works countless hours to figure out a way to make 4.000 students see the problems of our community, and then we try to empower the stu- dents to make proactive changes. The simple fact is, SAGA has surpassed my greatest expectations. While we have teamed up with Greek Week, all workshops will be conduct- ed before Greek Week begins, simply because I agree with the Daily; if the workshops were done during the charity event, the message would be lost. This weekend, we conducted the first four workshops. Each had rooms filled to capacity. Each included equal proportions of men and women. And each had chapter presidents, active members, and pledges sitting side by side. SAGA does work and I cordially invite members of the Daily's editorial staff to come see what we are doing. The program has been so successful that we have the unabashed support of school admin- istrators, and we plan on expanding to other stu- dent groups and athletic teams very soon. Instead of being so quick to point out our shortcomings, help us make a positive change. There are people stepping up and trying to make an impact, and we need everyone's help in doing so. Help to lead us in the right direction instead of kicking us while we're down. JUSTIN BRIGHT LSA senior The letter writer is a former Interfraternity Council vice president and the creator of SAGA. Reader does not want to read Simon's quotations, letters to the Daily To THE DAILY: I am just wondering what makes Michael Simon so important that you feel the need to quote him and/or feature letters to the editor from him in so many issues of your newspaper. I'm thrilled that he can utilize the scientific method to defend the hapless GSIs of the world, but, no offense, I don't really want to read about it in the Daily. When I do opt to read the Daily, I do so in order to obtain pertinent news, both on a local and a national level. Yet the fact that you consis- tently atnnte "exnerts" such as Simon - depict 01 4