4 - The Michigan Daily - Tuesday, September 17, 2002
OP/ED
c te aich4hrgttn ttil
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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
And considering
the imprudence of
that idea, maybe
they're smoking some-
thing a little stronger
than Marlboros."
- Arianna Huffington, in her syndicated
column last week in which she compared
President Bush's insistence on tax cuts to
a cigarette addiction.
Bj4-lex5 &ur1'%cal.edj
-5. jo
41
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SAM BUTLER T4- SOAPBOX
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Affirmative actions speak louder than words
AUBREY HENRETTY NEUROTICA
ith the Uni- claim that it would be impossible to create a sented minority applicants get 20 points (one
versity wait- diverse student body without race-based prefer- fifth the number required for acceptance)
ing to make ences in admissions will be bound and gagged before anyone even glances at their class
its case to the Supreme and banished to the third floor of the Frieze schedules or grade point averages. Applicants
Court and two rabid Building until the adults are finished talking. whose households fall below a certain income
contingents of campus There. Now we're ready to have a discus- bracket also get that initial 20 points, theoreti-
activists respectively sion. I'll start. cally to make up for the lousy schools, tired
screaming, "It's not our There are two main arguments for giving teachers and easy classes they had no choice
fault our daddies are underrepresented minority students a leg up in but to deal with throughout their childhoods.
rich" and "Die, right- admissions and I disagree with both of them. But there's no doubling up; poor minorities
wing racist bigots, die" at students and each The first argument is the old standby sports don't get 40 points. So for students in poor
other, it's a perfect time to decide whose sand- metaphor: Got to level that playing field. areas, the diversity argument doesn't apply;
wich board to wear. Let the debate begin! Racism has pushed a disproportionate number poorer students of every race get the same
But first, let's set some boundaries: of minorities into inner cities and substandard boost and while their wealthier counterparts'
Before anybody can thoughtfully discuss public school districts; they and their children playing field is the Big House, their own is in
the race-related portion of the University's deserve much better. The second is the battle sorry shape.
admissions policy, the sugar-coated catch cry of University presidents, public relations The people who benefit most from this sys-
phrase has got to go. "Affirmative action" is a officials, residence hall staffers and editorial tem are minorities from affluent areas. They
euphemism for "race-based preferential treat- boards at idealistic student newspapers who went to great schools, took lots of Advanced
ment," which itself may or may not be a pledge all but the lives of their firstborn chil- Placement classes and had exciting arrays of
euphemism for "discrimination;" therein lies dren to the cause: Diversity. We don't want to extracurricular activities to choose from, all of
the real debate. Dancing around the issue be like Berkeley, they say; take away the race which make for an impressive point total quite
doesn't help either side; if race-based prefer- factor and the University will be whiter than a separate from the 20 extra minority points. No
ences are indeed just, there's no need to distract John Tesh concert. one who went to school in Birmingham
the public with feel-good terminology and if In theory, this all sounds wonderful; I can (Michigan) needs help getting into college.
they represent a flaw in the system, "affirma- imagine few horrors as great as having to spend So why bother? The minority perspective?
tive" is definitely the wrong word. If I were in all four years of my undergraduate education How different are the lives of two people who
charge, I'd pick something completely arbi- (and in turn the rest of my degree-holding life) grew up across the cul-de-sac from one another
trary, like "Hank," but I'll hold off for now so associating solely with upper-crust white peo- in Bloomfield Hills, regardless of their ethnic
as not to confuse anybody. ple. Unfortunately, the way the University's backgrounds? While there are experiences
So "affirmative action" is out. Next: No now infamous admissions point system is set unique to minority students, to say that the
yelling. up, these impossible-to-disagree-with goals are "minority perspective" somehow trumps the
Next: The first conservative to say "reverse only met on the most superficial of levels. toeing-the-poverty-line perspective or any other
racism" when he means "discrimination against What results is a university full of kids who is awfully presumptuous.
white people" will be taken aside and punched look different, but whose parents all belong to OK, I'm finished. Now it's your turn.
in the face, after which a panel of experts will the same country club.
explain to him that "reverse racism" actually It works something like this: To combat the Aubrev Hen rettv can be reached
means "tolerance." Similarly, the first liberal to whitewashing of higher education, underrepre- at aherett@umich.edu.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Pro-divestment viewpoint ism, the movement that founded the state of Saturday, but to say that he was the reason
Israel, started in the 1890s. However, during for the loss is inaccurate. As fans, how can
served as a justification for this period, fifty percent of Jerusalem's resi- we expect Navarre to succeed if we con-
dents were Jews. Furthermore, there were stantly criticize his every move? Lloyd Carr
PaLestinian terrorist acts Jewish residents living in other parts of and his staff work hard every day of the
Palestine before Theodore Herzl, Zionism's year to put our bes.t product on the field. It's
founder, even thought of "The Jewish State." time for Michigan fans to give John Navarre
To THE DAILY: Therefore, Husseini's argument that their full support.
The only thing more twisted than Salah Jews came to Palestine because they were If we do not support him, we cannot
Husseini's bizarre analogy between Israeli on a bloodthirsty quest and not because expect the greatness our football team and
history and an imaginary Muslim recon- there were Jews living there that needed a University deserve. We need to give
quest of Spain, (University should divest state is nothing more ugly, hateful and asi- Navarre our full support as our beloved
from Israeli apartheid, 09/16/02) is his nine rhetoric. Next time Husseini wants to Wolverines try to win the Big Ten title and
implicit support for terrorism: "(Israelis) make a hypothetical example, he should get secure a trip to the Rose Bowl.
call this fighting back terrorism, justifiably his facts straight. BRAD HANAN
so if one neglects the context." BEN RUBENGERTZ LSA senior
But of course Husseini does not neglect Washtenaw County Community College student
the context and hence sees nothing ghastly
about randomly blowing up children in thed s t t n
name of self-defense. We should be honored Onusr es not rest on QB TONIGHT:
that our campus is graced with such a moral John Navarre for Michigan
paragon. M AS EEING
JUSTIN SHUBOw loss to Fighting Irish
Rackham ,WIE O S
Husseini ignores history of ToTHMAIY
After a painful loss to Notre Daie, 8 P't4.
Israeli state in order to many Michigan fans might be too quick to STUDENT Pus..
rah his deiu cocuso criticize John Navarre. I have been support-
reach hisdvious concluson ing him since day one and it bothers me that BUILDING
so many fans love to hate John Navarre.
The most glaring mistakes from our loss 420 MAYNARD ST.
TO THE DAILY: were four turnovers and several costly
Salah Husseini, in his hypothetical exam- penalties.
ple, (University should divest from Israeli Certainly, Navarre was not responsible BY TlE CUBE.
apartheid, 09/16/02) assumes that Israel was for the three fumbles by his receivers and
founded by Jews only because they had lived backs, and he certainly was not responsible BE THERE
there thousands of years ago. Unfortunately for the personal foul late in the game.
for Husseini's argument, this is false. Zion- Yes, Navarre could have played better
VIEWPOINT
Blame Carr, not Navarre, for loss in South Bend
BY JOEY LITMAN
Oftentimes, when one football team
beats another, it can be said that the victor
was better than the loser. However, I don't
think the same can be said of Saturday's
loss to Notre Dame; Michigan is not a
worse team than Notre Dame. If given the
choice, would we trade Braylon Edwards
for any Irish wide receiver? B.J. Askew
and Chris Perry for Ryan Grant? Our
defense - which surrendered fewer yards
- for Notre Dame's? No, no and no. Cer-
inexact. Surely, a more commanding pock-
et and huddle presence and improved accu-
racy would have helped our cause, but
some of John Navarre's issues can be
attributed to Lloyd Carr, who is ultimately
responsible for yet another Michigan let-
down.
Always espousing a doctrine of avoid-
ing turnovers and not asking our quarter-
back to do too much, Carr cannot possibly
instill confidence in his team or its much-
maligned offensive leader. Why does
Michigan struggle on the road? Surely due
-... 4L 1, ,t1 -------- +n L~ta.-
with cautious optimism and confidence,
seeking opportunities to make big plays.
It is now five seasons since Michigan
beat Washington State to claim a share of
the national championship. In that time,
there have been too many losses where our
team was the one with more talent (last
year's Citrus Bowl loss to Tennessee
notwithstanding). This phenomenon's
cause can be traced to Carr's conservative
play calling and play-not-to-lose attitude.
While I acknowledge that Carr has
accomplished a great deal, playing on the
place again.
A