4A - The Michigan Daily - Thursday, April 10, 2003 OP/ED Ulb £Idt wu alig 420 MAYNARD STREET ANN ARBOR, MI 48109 letters@michigandaily.com EDITED AND MANAGED BY STUDENTS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN SINCE 1890 LouIE MEIZLISH Editor in Chief AUBREY HENRETTY ZAC PESKOWITZ 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 He was the only Arab leader to stand up to the Americans. Look what happened, no one else will dare try that again." - Adel, a lawyer in Beirut, Lebanon explaining how Saddam Hussein will be remembered and what the end of his rule means for other Arab states, as reported yesterday by Reuters. «. Hey Dad! Hey Kido. What's up? AdMIL - -- xctac s _t r iwr._ . - JOEL HOARD AND SCOTT SERILLA ST1cK FIGURES ARm AWESME Combination of things really; apathy, girls, beer ... oh and my professor totally has it in for me. Why in the your prof. have it in for you?? I just wanted to know I'm flunking Poli Sci. What? Why? How would I know, I never go to class. Hmm.. that does seem unfair to just prejudge you like that. C 0 WNBA wants equal treatment? End it. LUKE SMITH THERE IS NO I IN COLUMN omen's has survived on two accounts, NBA money attempting to cull that from this argument sp o rt s and the ideological convenience and accom- would be suffering from knee-jerk reac- are just panying peace of mind with having women tions to perceived attacks on women's men's sports in slow represented in a professional sphere. rights - and doing themselves a tremen- motion," quipped a Both lifelines to the WNBA should be dous intellectual disservice. friend of mine when recognized as shaky at best. A league that Instead, the question ultimately returns the WNBA was makes no money, has no marketed stars, to equality and representation and the pur- birthed in 1996. Now, exists solely for the purpose of equal repre- suit of these ideals through unequal the WNBA, on the sentation. Were the NBA and WNBA com- means. Were the WNBA treated as a busi- cusp of what would be bined into a single league without a women ness, rather than a tokenist landmark of its seventh season, is in jeopardy of not per team quota (something Martha Burk female athletics, it would not exist. even having a season. would surely fight for), would there be It could share a gravestone next to the Oh no! women's basketball? Doubtful. Is that a XFL under the epitaph "Ideas that lost Without the equal representation of problem? No. That is the nature of business, tons of money." women in professional basketball, the not a byproduct of misogyny. The WNBA, for as long as it has existed, is framework of equality would surely be But is the representation itself equal? If the result of the sort of fiscal mismanagement altogether lost. This, of course, ignores the the WNBA exists, but no one watches, does of funds that left-thinking fools like Martha huge parental role of the NBA which is it exist? Certainly, but as little more than a Burk exhibit. In terms of these ideals and their forced to hold the WNBA's hand and financial vacuum sucking sound in the implementation, it is a horrible detriment to siphon funds for its survival. Excusing, for NBA's pocket. As Daily columnist Joseph allow a league designed to showcase women's just a moment, the financial woe and mis- Litman pointed out in a piece titled "Leave athletics to survive outside of reality in the ery of the WNBA - the NHL and MLB your husband at home day" (01/23/03) the name of ideological equality. both lose money - the WNBA exists for poorly launched and poorer marketed XFL These double standards under the guise all of the wrong reasons. was axed after one dismal season. of equality are the reasons why Annika Without a contract for its players since Yet, entering its seventh season of Sorenstam will play in the PGA's Colonial Sept. 15 and with little to no progress dwelling in the fiscal red zone, the WNBA next month (and will not make the cut); made on restructuring a deal, NBA com- is allowed to continue to exist, if for no why women will always be allowed in missioner (and WNBA foster father) other reason than to save ideological face. Men's locker rooms, but to even suggest David Stern demanded that in order for It looks good for the NBA to big brother that men be allowed in women's locker there to be a 2003 WNBA season an the little girls' league. rooms is perverse; and why affirmative agreement (between the WNBA players' Is this sort of paternalistic attitude action should be met with opposition. association and ownership) must be proactive for feminist rhetoric though? To The pursuit of equality through unequal reached by April 18. 1 simply champion the existence of the means will always be a flawed way for a ESPN.com reports the WNBA claims WNBA because it contains women is group to achieve its goal, whatever that its average salary hovers around $60,000, fruitless and regressive. Let alone that the may be. while the players' union claims that num- women's league is essentially run by the ber is actually closer to $46,000. Either NBA and its money. It is truly a one step number is far too high for -a league that forward, two steps back approach to run- regularly re th thanks the ouen.peop ewh plays around 30 regular season games and ning an athletic exhibition. Kelly aoyria happy anniversarys-itolerating only lasts for four months. Does all of this mean women shouldn't him for four years is quite an achievement. He The WNBA is an athletic exhibition that have the right to play basketball? Readers can reached at lukems@umich.edu. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR 01 MSA would be wrong to pass resolution supporting divesment f rom Caterpillar TO THE DAILY: It is unfair to judge a situation based solely on one-sided rhetoric. Following the tragic accident that caused the death of Rachel Corrie, pro-Palestinian groups are pushing for a new Michigan Student Assembly resolution that would urge the University to divest from Cater- pillar Corp. This resolution is questionable in content, and would be counter productive to the already strained relationship of pro-Israeli and pro-Palestinian groups on campus. This is a very sensitive issue that should not be judged hastily. The supporters of this resolu- tion should wait until the investigation is com- plete, and proven facts are available. The accounts of Corrie's death are much disputed at this point. Multiple publications such as The New York Times (03/26/03) had to publish retractions to parts of their stories on the inci- dent. According to a source from the Israeli Defense Forces, the area being bulldozed was not a populated area, but it did contain aban- doned buildings that were being used by terror- ists to stage attacks against Israeli civilians. The International Solidarity Movement (Cor- rie's group) contends that its mission is to pro- tect Palestinian civilians. If that is indeed its purpose, then one must ask what it was doing protecting terrorist positions that were used to attack Israeli civilians. In addition; pro-Palestinian groups con- tend that Caterpillar bulldozers are being used to demolish civilian homes. What peo- ple tend to forget is that the houses being demolished are the houses that belong to Palestinian !terrorists. Most people don't know that the family of a homicide bomber is awarded more than $25,000 for their "loss." Demolishing their houses serves as a deter- rent to those who think that they will help their family by blowing up Israeli civilians. MSA should think twice before passing a res- olution that condemns anti-terrorism efforts. ALEXANDER BABIN LSA senior Coverage of admissions policies inadequate, too much focus on war with Iraq doesn't seem like it is. I read the articles the1 Daily printed and was disappointed they were 1 further down on the page, which seemed to i downplay their importance. As the University'si premiere student newspaper, it is the Daily's duty to provide students with interpretive cover-+ age of the affirmative action lawsuits. I'm not talking about the oral arguments, I'm talking about the everyday articles leading up to and fol- lowing the arguments. The Daily's coverage only scraped the surface of the issues; the Daily seemed too preoccupied with the war. Why do I+ have to go to The New York Times, The Wash-i ington Post and the Detroit Free Press to find stories about the racial climate at the Universi- ty? I don't want to see another story on how Justice Sandra Day O'Connor is the swing vote, I want to see a story on how the race debate is or is not polarizing this campus. Yes, the war started right before the argu- ments were heard. However, this should not have taken the affirmative action coverage off page one. (For example, see the March 21, 2003 edition of the Daily) Students can follow war coverage or any other national or international news on television or online. But the Daily is the only place where students can find out what's going on in their own backyard. Take a different angle on the war because whatever war "news" goes into your newspaper will be old news by the time we pick up the paper. If you're going to cover the war, be innovative. Write stories that appeal to students. The war is being fought by people our own age, and tons of students have friends who are fighting in Iraq. Both of these issues affect students in ways the Daily is clearly not grasping. MATTHEW Ross LSA senior Alattar's viewpoint inspires those who support the war To THE DAILY: I would like to commend and praise Laith Alattar's viewpoint (Operation Iraqi Freedom: an honorable mention, 04/07/03). Never before have I been so moved while reading an article in the Daily. It inspired me, a supporter of the war, and I hope it will move to inspire those that oppose our difficult and massive, yet lib- erating job. Kudos to you, an American that has seen the horrors of Saddam's regime, for standing up for what you believe! DANIEL AGHION trayal of student apathy regarding the affirma- tive action cases (Skewed coverage, 04/09/03), its assertion that the student body is unified in its view of the cases is completely off-base. Specifically, the editorial states that "it is obvious that the media is not convinced that a collective pro-affirmative action status exists among students." If this is the view that the media are illustrating, then it could not be more accurate! Just over two weeks ago, the Daily reported: " survey compiled during Michigan Student Assembly elec- tions last week shows students might not be presenting a unified home front when it comes supporting the policies" (Survey shows opinions differ on cases' policies, 03/24/03). In fact, according to this survey of voters, more students opposed the Uni- versity's current admissions policies (41.5 percent) than supported them (40.8 percent). Do these statistics show a collective pro- affirmative action status? I think not. The irony of the title of the Daily's editor- ial is clearly evident. This student body is not solidly pro-affirmative action. Pro-affirma- tive action voices are generally louder; how- ever, it is the Daily that is now presenting "skewed coverage." KYLE METEYER LSA junior Student body not unified in supp ort of affimative action; almost evenly split on issue TO THE DAILY: I am slightly concerned with the Daily's editorial, "Skewed Coverage, (04/09/03)." The Daily claims that major U.S. papers are, "not convinced that a collective pro-affirmative action status exists among students." Well, neither am I. The only polling I've seen done on the subject, the recent spring elections, showed the student body slightly favors an end to considering race as a factor. While the numbers in the election were extremely close (probably statistically equal), they show the students at this school are at most split on the issue. For the national and local media to say that stu- dents are not supporting the University in its stance on affirmative action would be expected on a campus with as many views on the issue as the University. PATRICK MCINTYRE 01 THE BOONDOCKS ARON cRUDJER f2. k.