4 - The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, October 23, 2002 OP/ED ible £ibing aitg 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 will mount an angry, loud opposition just as we did in the Vietnam War." - International Action Center co-director Brian Becker on the U.S.-Iraq war protest planned for this weekend in Washington, D.C., as quoted by the Associated Press. rrioCe auh laws ? "Cinere Sho td be sw a.tter gove rmen ! Fewer gpvernr en rivake.. t\ e ou lieve -t- ne. _- Ye-t- c overnrne+ - haS i e ece_ w a wow~wn's body re acd oj aboc iov,? 04 7 1 SAM BUTLER TI SOAPBOX I. u-e5~mcnpy welyjeM r " I regret to inform you, I won't be rich JESS PISKOR THis SPACE NOT FOR SALE Dear Mom and Dad: I'm sorry, I'm not going to grow up and be a high-powered tax lawyer nor will I go through the Business School and compromise my beliefs for a six- or seven-figure salary. Get- ting rich has its appeals, but frankly, it's not one of my goals. I don't intend to buy my happiness. Instead of using wealth to avoid the stresses of everyone's lives, like insur- ance costs, children's education and retire- ment savings, I will work to eliminate those stresses. It will mean a lower-paying job. I will not tone down my fight for a better world even though it might limit my career options. I know you're proud of me. You are proud of me for my achievements so far. But you're also proud because I have potential. I attend an elite university and I am earning the credentials that can easily be turned into a comfortable, successful life with a wife and two kids and a three car garage and vacations and maybe a sailboat. Yes, that would proba- bly ensure my happiness. I could retire at 60. See the world. Give to charity. Hate my boss. I'd be an American success story and you'd be rightfully proud of me. Monetary success is the easy answer to all of life's problems. If I make enough, I am exempt from the problems in the United States. High insurance costs? Forget univer- sal health care, I'll just get rich. Social Security slowly vaporizing? Don't bother changing that, I'll just contact an invest- ment banker who will build up an impres- sive portfolio from contributions I started making when I landed that high paying job at 25. Cancer-causing pesticides in my genetically-altered food? Well, no point in changing the practices of huge factory farm- ers, I'll just pony up a little more for organ- ic food. Pollution? Global Warming? Doesn't bother me, I've got a nice house in the forest and the best air filters money can buy. Sure my kid has asthma, but I can afford the inhalers. My kids will go to pri- vate school to avoid our failing public ones. Then it's off to college for them so they too can avoid the problems of the world. When did life become only worrying about my own happiness? What happened to community? What's so wrong with car- ing about the happiness of my neighbor who works her ass off but is still one of the 43 million Americans who can't afford health insurance? I'm not willing to ignore my feelings that the world is headed in the wrong direction. I will not sell my beliefs for the promise of a good job. I'm not will- ing to moderate my political writing for fear that a future employer would be scared by my anti-corporate outlook. I will not promise never to get arrested for non-vio- lently demonstrating my beliefs. I won't buy a big house in the hills, hide for 50 years, donate a couple thousand to charity and call it a day. Instead I'll working from the ground up, starting now. I can tak- ing an 'active role in the way things work. I can write letters to Congress. I can call up local representatives. I can have political dis- cussions with my neighbors and engage the community. We can work together to create new ideas for a better world. I can put up posters and attend meetings and rallies. And yes, maybe I can go to a protest. Maybe I'll get tear-gassed and maybe I'll be arrested for civil disobedience. Activism and future success aren't mutually exclusive. I can fight for good and still have a decent job and provide for my family. I'm not actively looking to get arrested. I'm just telling you that given the choice of doing what's right or holding down my feelings in order to secure a job later, I'll take the former. I refuse to be shackled in my actions because I'm fearful of lost job opportunities in the future. My grades are good enough. Sure I might get a few more B's than I might otherwise. Yes, that might make the difference between getting that great job and that merely good one. But let's face it, I'm a child of privilege, I've attended and succeeded at a top univer- sity. I'm a damn hard worker. I'm not going to die penniless. My activism opens more doors than it closes. I know you have my best interests at, heart. You have years more experience and I know my active role in the world worries you. But please, don't think the alternative is better. Apathy and self-centered goals for success are far more dangerous for the world. Watching the world crumble around me while I'm safely cushioned by my sav- ings account is wrong. Yes, my activism lends itself to a more uncertain personal future. But it also allows for a future I might want to live in. Jess Piskor can be reached atjpiskor@umich.edu. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Student groups signed onto boycott don't understand reasoning behind actions TO THE DAILY: I guess I'm crossing the picket lines by writ- ing this letter. I guess I risk being shunned by all those groups who wish to make a point and change the Daily for the better. In fact, can it be that my Latino community may actually even disown me for not holding the fort and support- ing "the cause?" Well, that's life. You know, it's not that I don't support everyone in their noble cause for change. I mean if that's what it takes to get different groups together for a cup of coffee and a bagel, then more power to you. But honestly, do half of these student groups who feel so moved to boycott the Daily really understand the reasoning behind their actions? I'm going to step out on a limb and say no. You know what it is? People, especially students, especially University kids, love "fighting for their rights." They love joining together and donning their capes and cowls and saving the world from the evils of prejudice and racism. Great. Lovely, really. I'm all for the marches here and there, the "make love, not war" mentality and even the occasional "we are so oppressed" speech. But boycott the Daily because there are - dare I say it - opinions occasionally mixed in? Has anyone ever read The New York Times? But no - the Daily misspells a couple of names, doesn't cover Salsa dancing and now you are marked as the paper who is ever so slyly suppressing the minorities (sigh). Anyone else care to join this fashionable bandwagon? Better hurry because a month from now there will be another call for all those super heroes out there to "save the world" from the evils of democracy. But hey, I support you. Honestly, I do. Have your coffee and bagels. Rally together for a common good. And when you all feel like vic- tory has been reached and another evil has been extinguished, come get me. I'll be in the back reading about it in the Daily. By the way, my last name is spelled T-o-r-r-e-s. Just thought I'd help you out a bit. JOHN TORRES LSA junior Schwartz' attack of Creeks lacked supporting evidence some more facts: 1) I am aware of two other incidents since I attended school here in which a male student took advantage of a female stu- dent. Neither involved a fraternity and neither got the same publicity as the Beta incident. 2) Two years ago a University student died of alcohol on his 21st birthday. This student was not in a fraternity. 3) No fraternity members or guests have died since then due to alcohol. If I have misrepresented these facts or if there is something I'm missing, it certainly wasn't in Schwartz' column to back his opinion up. "I just wonder what kind of society of col- lege-aged people needs sober monitors." Schwartz answered his own question - the entire society of college-aged people. To sug- gest that fraternity parties are the only ones that need monitors to look after a crowd of people drinking is ridiculous. Sure, Schwartz is a civi- lized human being; so am I. But we all know that not everyone is "civilized" when they drink and guess what - they're not all in fraternities. Sober monitors are not there to merely prevent deaths or date rape - they also prevent vandal- ism and fights. The Greek system is an easy tar- get, because a few bad incidents have happened within the institution. But these incidents have been equalled outside of the Greek institution. As for what our house showed to poten- tial rushees, you might (but shouldn't) be surprised to know it wasn't about keg stands. We promoted one of our premier events, our annual pep rally. This year, in a student-planned event I have yet to see matched on campus, we brought together Coach Carr, Bill Martin, the Universi- ty marching band, the cheerleaders and the dance team for over 2,000 fans before the Washington game. We raised hundreds of dol- lars for the Coach Carr Cancer Fund. This event received media attention from The Ann Arbor News and The Detroit News and was even shown nationally on ESPN College GameDay. Yet, despite our efforts, the Daily conveniently ignored it. If Schwartz wants to hold a personal grudge against the Greek system, so be it. I'm not writ- ing this letter to change his opinion. But to use his editorial space to misrepresent facts to pro- mote his opinion and pretend as if there is a pat- tern of "uncivility" within the Greek system is irresponsible. PETER LUND LSA junior The letter writer is the vice president of Alpha Delta Phi Fraternity. derful philanthropic and community-service based activities and fundraisers and praise be to them for that. But on the other, there are the issues Schwartz raised: substance abuse and date rape. The truth is most freshmen probably don't join a Greek house for the great charitable opportunities, but rather for the social ones, such as a festive weekend atmosphere. While the date rape cases have been mostly isolated incidents, I'll argue that they're the result of a widespread mentality - one that promotes debauchery (and, as is evident at just about any frat party, chauvinism) in general and under- mines any sense of community with the Uni- versity as a whole. What's the paint of raising money for constructive social causes only to turn around and destroy them? Let's see the Greeks serve as a better example for the University; while the charity work is admirable, it's not enough day to day. LAUREN RUTLEDGE LSA senior Winston sviewpoint only made IFC look foolish TO THE DAILY: Thank you so much for printing Joel Win- ston's (Editor in Chief has small Schwartz, low self-esteem, 10/22/02). I was laughing so hard reading it that I had tears in my eyes. As current Editor in Chief of the Michigan Every Three Weekly, a publication that has found it easy over the past few years to make fun of the Greek system here at the University, I can hon- estly say that nothing we have ever written or ever will write about it could be half as funny as the words of the IFC's own president. I guess sometimes, if you really want to make someone look foolish, you don't have be the one to provide the evidence. Just give them a venue to speak, and they'll do your work for you. Thanks for providing that venue to Win- ston. Reading it was as sic (sic) as a freshman after ten Natty Lights at a frat party. RICH CANTLEY LSA senior The letter writer is the Editor in Chief of the Michigan Every Three Weekly. THtINK YOU RE STRESSD AL l