4 - The Michigan Daily - Friday, March 15, 2002

OP/ED


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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
This was an act
of nature."
- Catoosa County Sheri Phil Summers on
the 100 car pile-up in Northwest Georgia, as
quoted yesterday by the Associated Press.


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The many faces of bravery
BABAWOLE AKIN AINA STRANGER IN THE CORNER


The world is a beautiful
place, and worth fighting for.
- Ernest Hemingway


A s I write, there
are two tragedies
competing for
my attention. The first
has been the attacks of
Sept. 11 that rocked
both this country and the world.
The second is the bomb explosions in my
home city of Lagos, Nigeria.
The first attack I remember because
of its enormity and horror, the other
because it happened in my city; the place
where I grew up and have memories.
On both occasions, the courage of
those who made an effort to help others,
sometimes paying the ultimateprice, is
something to look up to.
Ever since I could remember, I have
always admired strength, not in the phys-
ical, offensive lineman sense but strength
defined in a much more profound man-
ner. This is the kind of strength that one
shows when he or she does what must be
done, despite the great fear that is felt
inside.
It is a sad fact of life that most people
are cowards and will only look out for
their own self-interest, and some people

do not even have the guts to do that. As a
result it is always heartening to see that
there are those who buck the trend and
stand firm, to the death even, for that
which they believe.
The best thing about this is the fact
that bravery does not wear a single face;
there have been many who have shown
strength and resilience in the face of fear,
danger and death.
Some of them come more readily to
mind than others, such as the police offi-
cers, fire fighters and rescuers in both of
the disasters I referred to.
Others include the men and women of
the cloth who have resisted tyranny in
Latin America. Students who fought and
are still fighting oppression in South
Africa and China. Doctors and rescue
workers who brave the perils of war to
deliver aid and care to those in need.
Journalists who cross into dangerous ter-
rain, putting themselves at risk for the
story.
All of these people confront the very
real presence of death, fear and danger as
they attempt to uphold what they believe.
It is their convictions that put the
steel in their backs and their eyes when
others buckle.
They do this everyday, all over the
world beit New York, El Salvador,

Afghanistan - and they are of every
race, color and creed.
They are the brave, the strong, and the
courageous. Between the twin notions of
political correctness and pseudo-intellectu-
al snobbery, courage and the ability to bat-
tle for your beliefs have become a
forgotten virtue.
I hope that changes.
In the meantime, I wish to say to all
those who have stood their ground at
great cost, at great pain, all the time not
entirely sure if their strength would last,
feeling the fear every logical human
should, then doing something most peo-
ple cannot - defeating that fear, the
world remembers.
The world remembers, sometimes
with vast eulogies and extravagant cere-
monies, sometimes with song, poetry and
writing, sometimes with vast monuments
and great statues.
At other times, in periods of great
prosperity and peace, it seems like we
forget.
Most do, some do not. We still
remember those who have been strong
and proud till the very end and we thank
you for it.

0

A

BabawoleAkinAina can be reached
at babawole@umich.edu.

LETTERS TO THE EDJTOR

I

AAUP is not a union; all
members of profession can
benefit from its services
To THE DAILY:
We see that at the foot of our Op/Ed View-
point yesterday that the Daily identified the
American Association of University Professors
as a union (Faculty grievance procedure a 'stacked
deck', 3/14/02). The AAUP is not a union.
Some chapters act as "collective bargaining
units" at various colleges and universities. Our
chapter does not serve in that capacity. Those
that are collective bargaining chapters belong to
a AAUP group called the Collective Bargaining
Congress. Through the CBC the AAUP is for-
mally a collective bargaining element at many
universities in the state of Michigan, including
Wayne State and Eastern Michigan University
but currently it is not a union at the University
of Michigan.
We are a professional association founded in
1915 to help shape American higher education
by developing standards and procedures that
maintain quality education and academic free-
dom in this country's colleges and universities.
The mission of the AAUP is to advance aca-
demic freedom, to define fundamental profes-
sional values and standards for higher
education, and to ensure higher education's con-
tribution to the common good. As a non-profit
(501(c)(3)) organization, we serve the profes-
sion, rather than individual members, and our
services are available to all members of the pro-
fession, regardless of membership status.
Membership in the national organization is
open to all faculty, librarians and academic pro-
fessionalsat two- and four-year accredited pub-
lic and private colleges and universities.
THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE OF THE
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN AAUP
Sports column disrespectful
of female athletes in general
To THE DAILY:
I am writing in response to The Daily Grind
column in the sports section, Follow the rules and
make March a profitable month (3/14/02). While I
acknowledge that this article was meant to be a
lighthearted and humorous one I found one sec-
tion of the article very offensive and sexist. The
author states his "Rule No. 2" which is don't
predict all four of the number 1 seeds to reach
Atlanta. Fair enough. He then, however, elabo-
rates on this statement in an attempt to be
humorous by saying "this sort of thing is possi-
ble in the women's tournament, but last time I
checked just 10,345 people cared about
women's hoops."
T fidfie m4. -i--aerrRncv n

10,345 people cared about women's basketball.
Rule No. 2: Women basketball players, and
female athletes in general, work just as hard as
male athletes do and to suggest otherwise is
ignorant, sexist, and completely disrespectful.
Despite the fact that the article was a column
and meant to be humorous, I hope the Daify will
not run comments such as that again, as it dis-
played disrespect and ignorance toward our uni-
versity and female athletes in general.
MOLLY HANDLER
LSA junior.
Aleobua and Royal hindered
assembly' swork by 'passing
a pointless resolution"
To THE DAILY:
Agnes Aleobua and Ben Royal are right to
say that the Michigan Student Assembly should
set aside party politics and get work done (MSA
reps, parties should put aside "business-as-usual pol-
itics, 3/13/02). Unfortunately, they are saying it
for all the wrong reasons. Apparently, their idea
of progress involves having MSA debate and
declare opinions on issues that are utterly irrele-
vant to its business and only waste everyone's
time.
Take for example, Aleobua and Royal's
recent accomplishment in passing a pro-affirma-
tive resolution through MSA. This may be a
commendable parliamentary achievement, but it
has absolutely no bearing on the issue itself. The
only entity that will ultimately determine
whether affirmative action will continue to exist
is the Supreme Court. To claim that you have
struck a blow for affirmative action by ramming
a toothless resolution through MSA displays an
enormous amount of pretentiousness and mini-
mal, if any, results.
Perhaps having one's opinion inscribed in
MSA annals is exciting, but it has the problem-
atic effect of taking time from the issues that are
MSA's real business. MSA exists to appropriate
money for student groups and resolve issues
pertinent to student life, such as determining
how late the CCRB will be open or what to do
concerning the recent string of robberies in the
residence halls. In addition to occupying large
chunks of what could be productive time for
MSA, the passing of politically charged resolu-
tions has the dangerous effect of impressing
opinions on the student body as a whole. I
would feel very uncomfortable if the student
organization that represents me adopts an opin-
ion to which I disagree.
Aleobua and Royal find fault with the Blue
and Students First Party candidates for not tak-
ing sides on their pet issue. The problem is that
Aleobua and Royal are blaming them for doing
their jobs correctly. The only "cynical election-
eering tactic" I see here is passing a pointless

sented by the Daily, it seems as though she has
no case. It seems that the worst thing Music
Prof. Pier Calabria did was to say in front of
an orchestra, to the whole orchestra (for those
of you who don't know, that's 60-80 people):
"It's a very sexual piece, I don't feel you are
seducing me, you should be seducing me."
What's the problem with that? Music is all
about sex (well, at least most music from the
Romantic Period, 1820-1910, which tends to
be the most popular thing to program) - if a
conductor can't talk about sex and seduction
during a rehearsal, he or she has nothing left to
talk about.
Granted, if Calabria had made advances
toward Johnson prior to this statement, she
might feel a little uncomfortable and even
imagine that this statement was directed
toward her - however, she needs to get over
herself and realize that this statement probably
had nothing whatever to do with her.
And this business about her being
"demoted": That's so high-school. The Uni-
versity Orchestras generally abide by a poli-
cy of even rotation, excepting the section
leaders (who have been set by auditions at
the beginning of the year and don't move),
so this concept of being "demoted" to a
lower position doesn't really exist. If he'd
said things like, "If you don't have sex with
me, I'll fail you," then she'd have some-
thing to talk about. But even then, in orches-
tra, there are checks and balances - your
grade is based on attendance and if your
attendance has been perfect, you've got sev-
eral people backing you up.
I'm getting sick of women whining
about advances being made - I get my fair
share of unwanted advances, but what can
you do? You avoid those people and put up
with it. Honestly, we're getting to a point in
society at which a guy can't ask out a
woman without wondering whether he's
going to get slapped with a lawsuit - and
isn't making the first move hard enough
already? We are strong women - we don't
need to tolerate crap - but we don't have to
be drama queens every time some asshole
says something lewd.
The fact is, the more people who cry wolf
about sexual harrassment (and racial discrimi-
nation, etc.), the fewer real cases people will
actually take seriously. And that would be a
tragedy.
ELIZABETH BAKALYAR
School ofMusic junior
LETTERS POLICY
The Michigan Daily welcomes letters from all
of its readers. Letters from University students,
faculty, staff and administrators will be given pri-
ority over others. Letters should include the writer's
name, college and school year or other University

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