4A - The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, October 16, 2002 OP/ED ~~brtt £ibitnfliltj 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 We signed the ballot with our blood and not with pens." - Iraqi citizen and teacher Madiha Ahmed, on yesterday's vote to re-elect Saddam Hussein for another seven-year term, as quoted by Reuters. Voting officials hope that Hussein will receive 100 percent of the votes; he received 99.96 percent of the vote in 1995. SAM BUTLER THE SOAPBOX A The divestment con ZAC PESKOWITZ TIm LOWER FREQUENCIES e study at a divestment opponents as enemies of intel- must be more efforts to increase interac- uWniv e r s it y lectual freedom was as silly and counter- tions between Palestinian and Israeli youth scarred by productive as the claims that divestment and to encourage collaboration between the emotion. The recita- supporters are terrorists. Holding the entire civil services of the Israeli government and tion of the Statement anti-divestment movement responsible for the Palestinian Authority. When a peace on Freedom of Speech the actions of a few disaffected and irre- agreement is brokered, both people must and Artistic Freedom sponsible individuals is a rhetorical conceit be ready to abide by its tenets. is not a formality, but that you would expect a man of Ibish's To return to the Divestment Confer- a necessity before any intelligence to reject. His arguments were ence, Hatem Bazian delivered a speech speaker with even a particularly laughable when remembering Saturday morning that unintentionally tincture of controversy. Slurs and insults that Snehal "Conservatives Need Not exposed the failures of divestment. Bazian are hurled with little thought or concern. Enroll" Shingavi would be speaking later quoted George Washington's Farewell The New Tribalism is alive and well at the in the day. Address in an effort to bolster support for University. Playing into Ibish's position were the divestment. Washington's isolationist poli- The one debate that is perpetually mired actions of Adi Neuman and Richard Dorf- cies are both a contemporary impossibility in rancor is the future of Israel and Pales- man. Their frivolous and Constitutionally and morally degenerate. Outlining areas tine. A partial explanation for why Samuel baseless lawsuit would not even be worth where divestment could occur, Bazian P. Huntington's oft-criticized "Clash of mentioning, except for the great harm it called for the cessation of collaborative Civilizations," even for those who disagree has done to pro-Israel groups. Fortunately, academic programs between the United with it, is a useful tool for generating sup- most pro-Israel forces on campus were States and Israel. Bazian seeks to construct port for your political causes. Too often willing to stand up against the small cadre barriers between people and limit the questions of Middle East politics are por- of intellectual thugs. exchange of ideas and cultural practices. trayed as existential struggles for the sur- One more incident merits mention. On That is the essence of divestment, a vival of a way of life, a religion, a culture the second floor of the Michigan League, measure to arrest interaction between the or a people. As a result of this desperation, Al-Adwa Chicago were hawking T-shirts United States, Israel and the Palestinian there was a fair share of nastiness and stu- with a stylized "Intifada!" sketching and Authority. If divestment ever becomes a pidity on both sides relating to this week- the words, "Palestine will be free from the genuine possibility, the people of Israel end's Second Nation Conference on the river to the sea" were emblazoned on the will be forced to look within their borders Palestinian Solidarity Movement. To wit: shirt. To be fair, the shirts weren't big sell- to survive and a siege mentality will reign. From his bully pulpit as editorial page ers, but everyone should recognize that not This is not a road to reconciliation. editor and columnist for The Detroit News all members of the pro-divestment bloc Divestment is a sham. I urge "progres- Nolan Finley was the most prominent critic seek an amicable resolution. sives" to reject it with the same urgency of the conference. In two columns on the In our little corner of Southeast Michi- with which they reject the United States' conference, Finley went through the laun- gan these tensions have generated a situa- murderous sanctions against Iraq. The dry list of the checkered pasts of some of tion, which, despite its acrimony, cannot effects of divestment from Israel may not the conference's speakers. Finley's even approach the level of distrust and be the same as the Iraqi sanctions, but the attempts to expose the conference as a con- enmity between Israelis and Palestinians. intentions are equivalent. And until that clave of anti-Semites were misplaced. Perpetual peace will not be the result of moment when they are willing to speak Anti-Semitism is a red herring. If the idea diplomatic maneuverings between the against divestment, their cowardice speaks of divestment is just, it doesn't matter if it Israeli government and the Palestinian volumes. comes from a virulent anti-Semite or your Authority, but will require a groundswell synagogue's rabbi. of mutual understanding between Palestini Zac Peskowitz can be reached Hussein Ibish's categorization of ans and Israelis. To generate amity, there atzpeskowi@umich.edu. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR 0 6 Conference no reason to sue 'U;' lack of sustainability, GEO better reasons TO THE DAILY: In response to the Oct. 10 article, Con- ference lawsuit may go to judge, might I sug- gest alternative lawsuits? We can start with suing for the 330 tons of nitrogen oxide emissions and the 38 tons of carbon monoxide emissions in 1999, which caused health risks and environmental haz- ards throughout the county and the state. Of perhaps we can sue for the University's failure to take sustainability seriously by investing in renewable energy and lower- ing greenhouse gas emissions. I don't believe environmental responsibility is mentioned in our mission and vision state- ment - can we sue for that? How about suing the University for failing to bargain fairly with the Graduate Employees Organization? Do our lecturers have a recognized union yet? Let's sue for gross misappropriation of funds - remember those chartered planes the regents used during the presidential search? While we're at it, we can tackle those pesky clauses in the Statement of Student Rights and Responsibilities (for- merly the Code of Student Conduct) whose interpretation of the legal rights of. students is, at best, chilling. And we can sue to prevent security cameras at the entrances of our dorms, an Ashcroft-esque breach of privacy rights. But don't sue the University for allowing free speech. Real- ly, that's the only thing it has going for it right now. ELLEN KOLASKY RCjunior Boycott unfounded; Daily has 'leaned over backward' to please organizations TO THE DAILY: As one who has continued to read the Dailv vear in and vear out since araduatina In my days in Ann Arbor, the campus activists advocating boycott of the Daily were the card-carrying Communists and their. sympathizers. DejA vu. Despite that boycott, the Daily survived and prospered. I'm certain that today's Daily will do the same. LEON JAROFF The letter writer was a Daily Managing Editor from 1949-1950 Cole, Gitelman set poor example' for students with heated exchange in Daily TO THE DAILY: With their recent exchange of letters, Professors Juan Cole and Zvi Gitelman contributed to the unfortunate trend in academia of placing the justification and indoctrination of personal beliefs ahead of the concerted, respectful search for truth. At last year's Sept. 11 vigil, a representa- tive of Hillel, Michael Brooks, eloquently described higher education as a "sacred conversation," the opportunity to listen, present and examine passionately held beliefs in an environment independent of hostility and open to all opinions. Brooks urged the University community to con- structively channel the anger and passion deriving from the tragedy into a civil examination of the motives compelling the terrorists to act and the appropriate responses the nation and its constituency should make to the event. Brooks also warned that allowing the emotions created by the tragedy to destroy this conversation ultimately aids the attackers in succeeding in their cause. With their exchange in the Daily, Cole and Gitelman trampled on this sacred conversation, resorting to puerile hostile language and personal denigration to argue their opinions. The poor example these two supposed leaders and guides of the sacred conversa- tion set troubles me as well. At a moment when tension peaks on campus between Arabs and Jews, Dr. Cole and Dr. Gitelman should model the proper method of examin- ing and discussing the conflict rather than smearing each other's character and beliefs. How can the University exnect students to Protests, grandstanding made conference a waste TO THE DAILY: I must say that I am angered and ultimate- ly disheartened with those who claim to be enlightened students of this fine University this weekend. Two university students sued to prevent the conference on Palestine from occurring, ultimately threatening the academ- ic integrity of this institution. The University prides itself on encour- aging open discussion of ideas and the ability for its students to do the same. The lawsuit that was levied this past week threatened the ability for the University to be a leader in the realm of free speech in education. I was further saddened by the waste of energy by both the pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli factions this past week. People spent more time arguing, protest- ing, grandstanding and wasting intellectual and physical energy that could be used in peacefully resolving the conflict to get at each other's goats. I stand not with Israel. I stand not with Palestine. Divisive grandstanding is waste- ful, to put it simply. And any attempt to attempt to justify it by either side is a poor and useless excuse to waste energy and prolong a conflict that, if both sides were actually willing to work toward it, could see a peaceful resolution within our life- times. However, as expressed this week- end, it seems as if another generation of people on both sides of the conflict have been brainwashed into attempting to destroy each other instead of figuring out how to live peacefully with one another. JEREMY PETERS LSA senior WE ARE THE DAILY. WE ARE CONTROVERSUAL. WE ARE POPULAR. 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