4 - The Michigan Daily - Friday, February 22, 2002
OP/ED
U~lbe Iirbigt &dlg~f
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UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
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JON SCHWARTZ
Editor in Chief
JOHANNA HANINK
Editorial Page Editor
Unless otherwise noted, unsigned editrials reflect the opinion of the majority of the Daily's
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necessarily reflect the opinion of The Michigan Daily.
NOTABLE
QUOTABLE
That has always
been our view:
That paying
ransom ... only
encourages further
hostage-taking."
-- State Department spokesman Richard
Boucher, as quoted by CNN, commenting on
the US. 's major policy-reversal decision to
consider paying ransom for hostages.
THOMAS KULJURGIS 'TENTATIVELY SPEAKING
IlM A CHAMP! I FINALLY SrAYCD AWAKt
M FY '"CHAMP~"' wEEV4TYou A HALF HOWR
LATE TOPWb Y Ckk)SEYOU SLEP'T IN?
L .eAYE A GCEATV
On anti-Americanism and academia
BABAWOLE AKIN AINA STRANGER IN THE CORNER
P olitics in general is a and professors engage in critical self- I am not implying that America bashing
messy, ugly and examination of America galls them to no is always justified, however, I am saying
coldhearted busi- end. It seems they would rather that these there are reasons why some people will
ness. The knives only get institutions spoke with one unflinchingly have strong adversarial feelings towards
sharper, the attacks more robotic and nationalistic voice that pledged the United States.
insidious and the competi- unconditional support for the war. That These reasons include the School of the
tion more intensely per- these institutions are not doing this has Americas formerly based ,in Fort Benning,
sonal when it relates to the caused several to throw out the label "anti- GA., which trained a great number of the
politics of personal philos- American" in a manner that is similar to military dictators who ravaged the popula-
ophy. The battle for the the McCarthy technique. tions of Latin America in the name of stop-
hearts and minds of the electorate, any decent These people seem to forget why uni- ping the communist threat; the imposition of
political operative will remind you, is a versities exist. The goal of the university is Mobutu Sese Seko as a dictator in the Demo-
bloody affair, waged with deceit, sleight of not to foist one opinion on others, or force cratic Republic of the Congo; the support of
hand and a slight dash of manipulation. someone to think in one particular manner. the apartheid government in South Africa
The latest installment in this battle Universities thrive on a plurality of opin- during the struggle and the branding of the
between liberals and conservatives is now ion, on a multitude of views. Anything less African National Congress as terrorists; and
focused on American Higher Education and and it is not a university anymore, it of course, the intractable Palestinian situation
certain institutions in particular have been becomes a propaganda factory, a brain- which has been exacerbated by the percep-
singled out: These include the University of washing unit. tion of American partiality.
Michigan, Harvard University and the ivies Another reason why the voices of dis- Those who are being groomed in the
in general, the University of California at sent are louder on these campuses results ivory tower to become leaders must under-
Davis and Berkeley - to name a few. Their from the structuring of American society stand these reasons, they do not need to
crime: Not being sufficiently patriotic - which conservatives love so much. accept them but they must acknowledge
enough about the war on terrorism. American universities are the breeding that they serve as motivation for enmity.
A corollary to this includes not being suffi- grounds of the elite, some more so than They must also understand the good that
ciently supportive of the Bush Administration. others; Harvard has produced seven presi- their country has done in the world.
The usual suspects on the conservative side dents, Michigan, one and both schools They do not, however, need to buy into
include the infamous David Horowitz, Ann drown the world with the countless bureau- the nationalistic hysteria that grips other
Coulter and our very own Michigan Review. crats and industry leaders. segments of society. They are not the
In the "red" corner, we have The Michigan Leaders who will face conflict need to masses that must be rallied to the cause,
Daily's editorial page, the faculty and student understand exactly why their enemy is they are the leaders that must do the rally-
bodies of the aforementioned institutions. attacking them. It is not enough to describe ing and ensure that the cause is achieved.
The biggest issue conservatives seem to the enemies as crazed mullahs and their For them to be effective, they need a clear
have is the fact that these universities are culture as inferior and backward. The peo- picture, not a rose-colored one.
not gushing with patriotism and naive ple who will lead this country need to
nationalism when it comes to America's understand objectively what the United BabawoleAkinAina can be reached
place in the world. The fact that students States has done. at babawole@umich.edu.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Interim provost recognizes and the University's Chief Financial Offi- outdated computer labs that lack innova-
cer, Robert Kasdin's, suggestion that there tive programming and a woefully inade-
GSIs contributions to 'U' is a dire need to spend nearly $1,000,000 quate number of library resources and
to house only one person or one family. staff.
To THE DAILY: There are just so many facility remod- I would challenge the regents and oth-
I have noted with some dismay some eling and expansion issues that have been ers to shelve their inappropriate decision to
negative press about GSIs in the Daily this delayed or scraped, as well as other student "doll up" a mansion for someone of the
week. I hope that the Daily and its readers needs that go unmet and deserve immediate most privileged position in society and
share my strongly held view that the great attention - that the suggestion to spend meet their obligations to the rest of us by
majority of GSIs are conscientious and monies on patios, a sunroom, air condition- meeting the needs of the students of this
effective teachers and that GSIs make many ing and other such luxuries for an official university and taxpayers of this great state.
invaluable contributions to the quality of that has not yet been appointed demon- KENNETH D. STEWART
undergraduate education at the University. strates the extreme ludicrousness of the Public Health
PAUL N. COURANT regents' and the administration's proposed
Interim Provost and Executive action.
Vice PresidentforAcademic Affairs Second, actions such as revamping the Turanni right to urge U.$.$ s
president's mansion are not in line with the p otion f dentCratization,
assertion that all academic and programming
Renovations to president's departments should reduce their budget pro- transparency in Arab world
jections for the next fiscal year by five per-
house indicate regents' cent from last year's final budget. To THE DAILY:
misplaced funding priorities Personally, I would like to know why Khalid Turanni wisely urges Americans
the regents and the administration have not to examine our foreign policy to help us
chosen to fulfill their public obligation and understand some of the causes of Sept. 11
To THE DAILY: remodel the School of Public Health in this (Turanni urges focus on why terrorists hit,
As I read the front page headlines in time of national crisis and desperate need 2/21/02). He also correctly calls for the
Wednesday's Daily (President's House to for public health professionals. United States to promote democratization
undergo extensive renovation this year, The School of Public Health at the Uni- and transparency in the Arab world.
02/20/02), I was absolutely dumbfounded. versity of Michigan has been involved with Turanni claims that a major reason for
Let me explain why. such milestones as developing the Polio the Muslim world's dislike of the United
First, as a representative to the Michi- vaccine, the completion of the Human States is its intimate knowledge of U.S.
gan Student Assembly for the School of Genome Project, and numerous other stud- foreign affairs spending.
Public Health and one who was present at ies such as those related to cardiovascular But, with estimated literacy rates of
Tuesday's weekly MSA meeting, I wit- and asthma to name just a few. only 43 percent (Morocco) and 38 percent
nessed a great outcry from many students However, despite its stellar perfor- (Pakistan) and given that a Gallup poll
regarding needed capital improvements to mance and groundbreaking inroads within taken last fall found that 48 percent of
help reduce the impact of crime in univer- the arena of public health, a concern that Pakistanis believe Israel carried out the
sity housing. These public comments were each and every dne of us should share, the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, can we really
solicited at the request of Lisa Tedesco, school is no longer able to operate effi- credit Muslim hatred for the U.S. to their
the Vice President and Secretary of the ciently and to capacity. Not with its outdat- informed perspective on the U.S. foreign
University. ed wet labs and freezers, overcrowded aid budget?
Therefore, I could not grasp the logic classrooms, lack of public meeting and JOSHUA BROOK
behind the University Board of Regents' study space, inappropriate meal venues, Lawschool
VIEWPOINT
The Greek system is, indeed, stepping up
one limited to the Greek community. For bers. There will always be those anonymous
By JOEL WINSTON our part, however, the Greek community has critics, but by working hard to educate our
made serious advances irk creating a safe members, the difference will be shown by
Here is something surprising: One in and fun environment for our members. Our actions instead of words.
four college-age women are victims of sex- most recent and successful effort is being The efforts made by SAGA are done
ual assault -or attempted sexual assault at made by Students Acting for Greek Aware-. because it is necessary as citizens to under-
some point during their college careers. ness (SAGA). This student organization was stand this issue. By promoting this issue
In Monday's editorial, The Greek system established through a cooperation of hard inside our Greek community, we have the
needs to step up, the Daily laid blame on our work by both fraternity members and female ability to reach over 4,000 students and thus
Greek community as being the major source of students interested in promoting awareness the potential to increase overall understand-
sexualized violence on campus. Despite being oferuala ssault in and awarene s.ventiuliv .SAGA
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