MM 4 4A - The Michigan Daily - Friday, September 26, 2003 OP/ED Ulbe £tchi*uu Da iI 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 We want to make it more exciting and creative and make everyone happy." - Raphael Ghermezian, on the Mall of America, which a recent court ruling awarded to his family, as reported by The New Yok Times. Nv SAM BUTLER THE SOAPwBOX ~ ~ creeX-'. F e'L ilne co~nf+erc s Yc VO-r~c I6 e(~Ce 1 r!AnlC 3vJ e. - m2 . ' ' ' r .. .. 6 ___-__ . ... i I 4 I Leaders and best DANIEL ADAMS WIN spent the first two years of my time ' here at the Univer- ,> sity in West Quad. Each morning, I went to breakfast, ate and went to class. As good as those dorm pancakes were, the highlight of my morning was always the mandatory walk past Sigma Chi after I got out the door. Flush up against the Union and part of West Quad, the Sigma Chi fraternity never failed to find new and exciting ways to make me want to boot my food back up. Sure the garbage in the back of the house always smelled like Natural Light/rotting flesh, but personal touches like shooting out the streetlights or tossing glass onto the sidewalks really made that stretch of campus special for me. Memories. So you can only imagine my disappointment when I found that the Interfratemity Council cut all ties with Sigma Chi. Apparently on Sept. 14, a Kinesiology junior was admitted to the Uni- versity Hospital after members of Sigma Chi forced him and his pledge class to perform strenuous exercise while being denied access to adequate food and water. This caused the stu- dent's kidneys to fail. Letters today, leaders tomorrow, right guys? Not missing a beat, IFC President Bran- den Muhl responded to the incident, "It's absolutely unfathomable what would produce or provoke hazing such as this." A good question. What would produce behavior like this? If patterns of behavior can in some way be attributed to a root cause, then follow me now, as we take a little trip cross country, and visit several of the other illustrious Sigma Chi houses. The Sigma Chi chapter at Duke University has drawn national attention recently after a "Viva Mexico" theme party earlier this month included invitations in the form of expired green cards. The icing on the cake was the fra- ternity brothers at the door dressed up like border patrol, sparking outrage and protest among the school's Latino community. Or out west, where the University of Wash- ington chapter has racked up an impressive record over the past decade, garnering every- thing from warnings, to reprimands, to an even- tual $1000 fine by its own IFC in 1998. More recently, it has been named in two different law- suits alleging sexual assault. In one, a 22-year old woman claims she was drugged and raped in the bushes in front of the frat. According to Sigma Chi's "Standard Oper- ating Procedures" guidebook, pledging is designed to be "the development of leadership skills through ... activities which promote mutual trust and respect." So in January, after reading this guidebook thoroughly I'm sure, brothers at the Arizona University chapter decided these skills would best be instilled by allegedly locking pledges in a walk-in freezer, then forcing them to eat their own vomit. Perhaps Sigma Chi is too easy of a target? OK, lets expand this and include other well publicized incidents back in Ann Arbor. Like in December of 1999 when a pledge of the local chapter of Alpha Epsilon Pi was shot in the groin with a BB gun? Or four days later when two Delta Sigma Phi fraternity members were allegedly found duct taped in Mary Markley Residence Hall? Later in the year at the same frat, a 17-year-old had to be taken to the hospi- tal for alcohol poisoning. Or at Zeta Beta Tau in March of 2000, when a hazing incident left a pledge with chemical burns from a bleach- based cleaning agent. To give credit where credit is due, I should not forget to mention that in most of these cases the fraternities and individuals responsi- ble were dealt with admirably by national chapters, the IFC, the University or a combina- tion of the three. But now, the question must be asked: How much power do these organiza- tions really have to monitor and discourage hazing, date rape and underage drinking in the Greek system? Can the IFC really make Greek life safe? Most importantly, how many times can the Greek system possibly be expected to apologize for events that are far too common- place to be isolated? I don't envy Branden Muhl. He seems to know the right thing to do, and is genuine about his intentions to see it done. However, right about now, he should be coming to the realiza- tion that his position and his organization, the IFC, appear (and may very well actually be) helpless to control the kids that inhabit its mem- ber houses. So when Muhl says, "We feel very sorry about this incident and what happened to the man and his family ... I will do everything in my power to make sure this does not happen again," what exactly is he apologizing for? Sorry, it happened again? Sorry, I couldn't stop it? Sorry, I'll try harder next time? I'm sure you will. I'm sure you will. Adams can be reached at dnadams@umich.edu. I I LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Article damages view of volunteerism; students lazy, hold wrong views on service To THE DAILY: I had not yet I put down yesterday's Daily with the article, The ties that don't bind: schedule-friendly volunteering (09/25/03) before I made my way to the computer to try and address some of the fundamental mistakes the author made in talking about service as well as curb some of the potential effects the article and the type of thinking therein may have on prospective volunteers. I took issue not with the author or the spe- cific work of the organizations mentioned. I feel greater student involvement in service as well as the organizations that work on stu- dents' behalf are vital. What angered me was the tone of the writing and the words that were used to convey a dangerous ideology. The title made me read closely but what fol- lowed pushed me over the edge. The article did more to damage the image of students doing service work than any that I can recall. It portrayed us as whining, self- centered, uncompromising brats more inter- ested in cell phones and sports (the Daily's cover page articles for the day) than in the interests of others. While this may be true for many, it is not for all. Those students that ded- icate the bulk of their college experience to service-learning activities and have others' interests in their hearts are closer to success and truth than those students that seek oppor- tunities that "fit their needs and schedules." When will students - and Daily reporters - realize that service is not something to be trifled with, to be done intermittently as catharsis for when exams and our social lives have us down, when we feel bad for others who don't have the luxury of driving a Land Rover to class? This attitude toward service is self-centered, destructive to any positive work other students are doing but most importantly, dismissive of the people and situations that are in the direst need for someone sincere in their aim and dedicated to positive change. The most important aspect of service, says Jonathan Gleicher, head of the Detroit Project, is "that no matter their level of involvement, (students) are making a differ- ence." Is it? Considering this thinking comes from an organization that "requires no official time commitment at all" in order time. Until students and student groups make this leap in logic and alter their pro- grams for the better, many will be deluding themselves as well as alienating themselves from meaningful community interaction and social change. Perhaps a good way to instill some of these tenets of service in students would be to challenge them to something greater, both in terms of sustained involve- ment and self-sacrifice. Articles like this serve only to perpetuate the type of lazy and idealistic dreaming students know now as "volunteering." Tim REED LSA senior AAPD breaking up parties -has 'grave effects' on democracy To THE DAILY: I am, more or less, a law-abiding citizen, and I have always considered myself to be of the idealistic, police-respecting school of thought. However, in the Ann Arbor Police Department's attempt to crack down on stu- dent drinking this year, I think they have done themselves and our community more harm than help. You probably weren't at Lindenfest a couple of weeks ago, because there were only about 100 students scattered around the entire block when three cop cars rolled up, gave a noise violation to every single house on the street and shone a flashlight in my eyes, yelling at me to "get off the porch!" Since I am 21 and I don't live on Linden, I didn't have much to worry about, but I watched as they stormed through the house uninvited and started passing out minors in possession like they were dealing a deck of cards. The cops were there trying to break up a party that wasn't even a party at all. Despite all the times I defended the police to my peers, reminding them that the police were just doing their jobs, I decided then and there that the cops were out to ruin our fun. By roaming the student dorms like hall monitors, handing out noise violations by the dozen, stealing the taps off kegs and breaking up par- ties that are barely parties at all, the cops are instilling in us, the rising generation, a grow- ing animosity, disrespect and distrust in the police force of our nation. While risking sounding dramatic, I think this will have grave effects on our democracy. Trust in the government is a fundamental ele- receive any respect at all from the students and restore some of the lost trust in authority, they need to listen to their own vision state- ment and figure out how to handle a campus of 30,000 students more constructively. CAROLINE SAUDEK LSA senior Students' excuses lame, MSA makes voter reg- istration easy N To THE DAILY: Although I agree with the editorial on mak- ing voter registration easier, (Voting easy; should be easier, 09/25/03) it supports the same lame excuses that students have been using for years. The editorial states "most students don't want to deal with all the hassle of the registration process all over again for the new city in which they now reside." While I completely under- stand the busy schedules of students, it takes less than five minutes to fill out a registration form, and the Voice Your Vote Commission of the Michigan Student Assembly has been at the Diag every Wednesday afternoon to provide these forms. We will also be in the basement of the Michigan Union this Monday from 12-3 p.m. to provide forms, and send them to the city clerk for you. It is incredibly easy. MIKE FORSTER LSA sophomore Homeless not dangerous, should be treated as people To THE DAILY: It's not uncommon to be disgusted by some of the letters sent to the Daily but Thurs- day's letter from Leslie Rott, DPS, AAPD need to protect students from the homeless (09/25/03) was particularly disturbing. Leslie, just a suggestion, maybe you should think about treating "the homeless people" like fel- low human beings and not like trash that you unfortunately have to encounter, then they may not seem so scary. It's just sad that some- one who is apparently college educated could harbor such ridiculous prejudices towards those less fortunate than herself. People live on the streets for many different reasons but by no means does this make them anymore likely to hit, stab or shoot you than say your average college graduate. 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