4A - The Michigan Daily - Thursday, September 19, 2002
OP/ED
U be Aticgun &d4ig
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
I have nothing but
hatred in my heart for
him ... I hate Saddam
Hussein.
- Former President George Bush,
in an interview with Paula Zahn
on CANyesterday.
JENNIFER GREENE JENN'S CRNER1
CIOL~eS o ,+r tlCcrd
y, ,dosearc a1
0
Fostering the naive perception of equality
LUKE SMITH THERE IS NO I IN COLUMN
he abstract Yes, diversity is nothing to strive for. nomic status. I can't control my intellect any
concept of fair- This petulant, naive quest for diversity more than you can control what your father
ness is at the allows the University to admit students does or doesn't do for a living.
core of almost every who are less qualified than others, giving We aren't all born at ground zero. There
argument, debate and the admitted the benefit of the doubt is not a shred of equality among us, so stop
law. It is a tragedy because they are under-privileged, under- trying to create it. Does anyone look around
that so much time and represented or the University is getting their Stats 350 class and think to themselves,
energy is devoted and paid, under-the-table to take Daddy's junior "Wow, all of us in this room are like, totally
subsequently wasted into her flabby diversity-grubbing arms. equal." No. So stop kidding yourself.
to the pathetic pursuit It isn't fair that Desmond will be the third That's the point. There are people lesser
of the construction of a society founded University of Michigan man to come out of than you, and people greater than you. This
under the inherently flawed premise that all his lineage. But in the same respect, it isn't reality reaches far at both ends of the spec-
people are created equal and that people fair that Jack comes from a poor school sys- trum, but for some reason we try to coddle
should be afforded each and every opportu- tem and is an underrepresented minority - everyone's feelings, level the playing field
nity (basically, fairness). he's bright pink in case you were wondering and let life run an altered course, on terrain
Fairness, just like the oh-so-novel pat on his skin color. My space, my rules. designed to be fair to everyone.
the back concept of human equality, in Neither of these two should see the inside Come on. Our differences as individuals
reality does not exist in any tangible form. of this campus unless they are taking a virtu- are what create this broad scope of humani-
Absolutely nothing is fair other than per- al tour online, or fit the academic standards a ty. It's so ironic that the very individuality
haps the odds of calling heads or tails in a top tier University like this one should main- people seek to champion, is the same indi-
coin flip and even then we can sit and com- tain. And maintain it, uncompromisingly. viduality that aids in the defeat of the bank-
plain about the way the coin was flipped. I suppose that would mean continuing to rupt idea of fairness and equality. Fairness
Fairness is a simply a perspective: One per- stress grades, extracurricular activities and of does not exist. Creating an environment, or
son's bemoaned "apples for lunch every- course, standardized tests. community or university built under the
day" could be another person's banquet in "But Luke," you whine from my left, guise of fairness is naive. It will not hap-
heaven. It's completely subjective and "standardized tests aren't fair, they are biased pen. It is not even. an ideal worth pursuing,
completely ridiculous. toward the white male." Spare me, I have no especially not through the employment of
The idea that in this society people think sympathy or tolerance for the unfairness, tri- superficial guidelines and rubrics for
that everyone deserves a fair chance and that als or hardships you are overcoming, over- admissions into college.
life should be fair is folly. It is useless. came or will overcome in your life. Fairness Is everyone so afraid of what the Univer-
Admissions here at the University are .doesn't exist and everyone gets their fair sity would look like if an application were
unfair. Tons of deserving high schoolers share of crap dumped on them. simply name, address, essays, transcripts and
are cast aside annually in the quest for Should I pity Lyle and feel bad for him some test scores? Is everyone even afraid?
diversity - a word that means nothing, because his genes dictated that he would be Or just those who know they've taken some-
other than a 'fair distribution of races.' bald by age 20? Is his baldness and my full one's place who would deserve their spot
Since fairness doesn't really exist, diversi- head of hair fair? Is it right that Bertha less under the above criteria.
ty's weight in an academic community resembles a pers.on and more a cage ball Life isn't fair. Are you here because
should be minimized and relegated to an because of her genes? Genes are as predis- someone else isn't?
ideal that if achieved naturally, the 'U' can posed and controllable as the situation each
award itself a pat on the back, but it is and everyone comes from. I can no more Luke Smith can be reached
nothing to strive for. control my skin color than you can your'eo- at lukems@umich.edu.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
0
Husseini's inaccuracies 'go
on and on'; analogies are
'extremely far-fetched'
To THE DAILY:
I was greatly offended by Salah Husseini's
viewpoint, (University should divest from Israeli
apartheid, 09/16/02). Although it was well writ-
ten, the analogies' were extremely far-fetched
and totally distorted the situation. Jews lived in
Israel before it was declared a state and - as I
am sure you are well aware - the British
promised Israel the land. Israel gained the other
disputed pieces of land after they were attached
by neighboring Arab countries that wanted to
destroy Israel. In addition, Israel is not striking
Palestinian areas in order to kill civilians, they
are trying to kill known terrorists who are
intent on killing innocent Israelis. Also, the
United States has good reason to befriend Israel
since it is the only democracy in the region and
have helped the United States many times in
the past. The list of inaccuracies in Husseini's
article goes on and on.
LESLIE FINKEL
LSA sophomore
Random roommate pairings
increase diversity, respect
To THE DAILY:
This is in regards to the Daily's article
('Webroomz' pairs roommates together,
09/18/02) While on the surface using detailed
questionnaires or student profiles to assign
roommates in university dormitories seems
ideal, the University's roommate assignment
system should not be altered. Room assign-
ments based on personal information (beyond
clearly necessary preferences as to smoking or
non-smoking, coed or single-sex halls, etc.)
will, by pairing students with similar interests,
tend to place students with very similar back-
grounds in the same room. We meet people
with similar interests all the time, in classes
and extracurriculars, thus pairing students who
appear likely to become friends based on these
similarities is unnecessary. Furthermore, sur-
face-level similarities have little relation to
whether students will get along as roommates;
yet once on campus, feeling at home with stu-
dents from different social and racial groups
can be difficult. There are certainly few active
racists on campus but many people come from
homogenous towns and our lack of contact
with other races while we are young makes of
us rather race conscious. Perhaps because of
this, the University seems prone to de facto
segregation. Pairing roommates randomly.
ensures that, at least in the dormitories, people
of different racial, social and geographical
backgrounds will have to live together in
some semblance of harmony.
Allowing students to choose roommates
through on-line profiles or increasing the n'um-
ber of parameters by which the system com-
bines them is dangerous because it will
eliminate this head-on collision with diversity.
Regardless of "innovation" elsewhere, the Uni-
versity should preserve its current system.
JOSIE CLOWNEY
LSA junior
Let students rush the field
but don't hurt the goalposts
TO THE DAILY:
I'm writing in response to Jeff Phillips'
article (Field rush uncalled for after poor rivalry
game, 9/17/02). As I sat in the stands of
Notre Dame Stadium following Saturday's
game, I couldn't help but be jealous of the
on-field celebration. The entire student sec-
tion stormed onto the field, with security
guards opening gates and aiding students
down over the surrounding wall.
The Notre Dame marching band played
the Notre Dame Victory March, while stu-
dents and players pumped their fists and sang
along. It was what college football is all
about.
With this in mind, I only wish we could
have had the same celebration after the Wash-
ington game. Players ran over to the student
section to celebrate, but students were held
back from the field by security guards and
police officers threatening to arrest them. Not
since the 1970s and 1980s, (Minus the 1997
Ohio State game) when storming the field was
a common practice, have students and fans
been allowed to celebrate on the field.
So, to whom it may concern, whether it
be Athletic Director Bill Martin, President
Janitors should not blame
students for trash or Lloyd
Carr for a bad game.
TO THE DAILY:
I am not actually writing this in response to
a published article. However, I wanted to say
that I enjoyed the published phone interview
with the student who had a thing against hip-
pies, (Random student doesn't like hippies or Sad-
dam Hussein, 09/12/02).
So let me tell you what this is about. I was
sitting in the commons in Angell Hall that
overlooks the fishbowl on Sept. 17 reading my
Accounting Book. However, I just couldn't
concentrate because this worker was sitting
nearby and he was talking so loud so that
everyone could hear what he was saying.,So I
thought his University bashing was quite inap-
propriate and disturbing. Personally I was dis-
gusted, maybe someone will agree with me.
The worker was a heavy set man, who started
out by saying that the students threw paper all
over the floor the day before and the crew had
to come in and clean it all up that night. I
believe he was referring to the Polo and other
ads that fall out of the Daily while the students
are carrying it. The worker claimed that all of
us students throw these papers on the floor as if
it we our home.
First of all I would like to say that personal-
ly mine fell on the floor when I grabbed a copy,
but I bent over to pick them up and throw them
away. Which if the hallway would have been
full would have been impossible to do. So I can
imagine why they didn't get picked up. He then
explained to his fellow worker that none of us
would be here if it were not for them. Which
made me laugh because I am a janitor at night,
that is how I pay my tuition. However, me
cleaning the floors has nothing to do with the
business that takes place during the day hours,
even I know that.
The next subject was football. This time the
worker told his peer, "since you're not an ath-
lete let me try to explain to you that John
Navarre cannot see the field and never will be
able to." He continued on explaining what he
would do if he were Lloyd Carr. Let me just
say that Navarre is the quarterback for a reason
and Carr is the coach for a reason. And this guy
is not, for a reason!
To finish it all off he said that he would not
o9
..fcsrsat c t' :tA orImatc4af , p t ;' cnrtrti rnnr m . t741t 1S1
c he.hill 'C r~ic'dw1Atpg