4 - The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, February 9, 2005 OPINION ~Iz fidiga Ui JASON Z. PESICK Editor in Chief SUHAEL MOMIN SAM SINGER Editorial Page Editors ALISON GO Managing Editor EDITED AND MANAGED BY STUDENTS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN SINCE 1890 420 MAYNARD STREET ANN ARBOR, MI 48109 tothedaily@michigandaily.com NOTABLE QUOTABLE Now, you guys should be applauding on that!" - Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm, to Republican lawmakers who welcomed her anouncement of further tax cuts with silence, during last night's State of the State address. I - Q- 4> t~7 Lo .p SAM BUTLER THEii SOAPBOX Ending a state of ignorance JORDAN SCHRADER PORT HUtRON STATEIFNT ast year, Michigan Maybe I shouldn't assume the ignorance of the from campaigning for or against a ballot measure, voters went to the electorate. After all, the initiative presents a unique but nothing prevents them from explaining their polls and found a opportunity for public discourse on a crucial piece own policies or presenting both sides of a contro- proposal to define marriage, of public policy - whether to use tax dollars in versy. Nothing keeps public officials from making $ Some had read newspaper ways that benefit racial groups differently. this their chief topic of conversation, as University editorials calling it divi- Until now, Michigan's affirmative action debate President Mary Sue Coleman has done. sive and damaging. Some has played out in courtrooms. That setting limited By bringing forums to campuses, the University had heard their union had the debate to a few voices, staying remarkably and its fellows across the state can educate voters opposed it and mainstream on message - diversity, diversity, diversity vs. in some of Michigan's biggest cities. The students politicians had distanced quota, quota, quota. Released into the public, the who establish such forums must invite voices from themselves from it. But debate could broaden. all sides if they are to draw more than the people most knew very little about it. For example, it could provide room for those who have already formed their opinions. It sounded reasonable, though. Marriage who say we need affirmative action to mend the The University makes available plenty of fac- between one man and one woman, just as it's discrimination against minorities woven into our tual information about its admissions and the been since the beginning of time. No need to historical and social fabric. That's a more com- implications of MCRI. But that's seen mostly by think about what that ambiguous phrase "mar- pelling argument than saying we need diversity the people who visit its website. Lawyers worry riage or similar union" meant. because it makes us feel good. It could also make about going further than that and running afoul of Next year, Michigan voters will probably go to room for those who argue racism won't end until campaign finance laws. the polls and find a proposal to ban affirmative government stops assigning people to racial cate- "We do not intend nor can I envision us doing action. Some will have read the newspaper edi- gories and judging them accordingly. I'd say that's some sort of media blitz or campaign," said torials that will no doubt condemn it as divisive more compelling than pretending white people are Sally Churchill, the University's assistant gen- and damaging. Some will have heard that their somehow systematically discriminated against. eral counsel. union and corporate employer oppose it and many The only way MCRI will spark such a debate "I'm not sure there's a whole lot more we can mainstream politicians have distanced themselves is if people learn what affirmative action means do. People have to understand that if they want to from it. But most will know very little about it. and take an informed position, as thousands of defeat this or to pass it, they can't look to U of M It will sound reasonable, though. Outlawing University students have. Bombarding them with to lead the charge." discrimination and guaranteeing equal opportu- campaign commercials a month before the elec- Still, with such a stake in the issue, surely it is nity. No need to think about what that ambiguous tion won't do the trick. Only a long-term cam- worth the legal risk for state universities to join phrase "preferential treatment" means. paign of honest information will allow people to together and buy ads explaining their admis- The Michigan Civil Rights Initiative isn't on the evaluate the state's methods of brewing diversity. sions processes and dispelling myths. No need to 2006 ballot yet, but I have little doubt it will be. Fortunately, we have two years. mention MCRI; they could be more like the Big The group convinced more than enough people So start now. The state of Michigan has two Ten ads that promote their schools' sportsman- to sign its petitions. If it fails this time, its small years to explain the policies it uses to create a ship than campaign ads. You know, "good sports but patient corps of supporters have plenty of time diverse body of employees and students. To make great fans?" to try again, and the scenario I've just described make TV commercials putting them into easily There's still some hope that good information will still play out in November 2006. Voters who understandable form. To set up debates across will make great voters. haven't bothered to educate themselves will make the state between supporters and opponents of a decision based on the associations triggered by affirmative action. Schrader can be reached the ballot language. Campaign finance laws prohibit state institutions at jtschrad@umich.edu LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Daily's report on Sigma Alpha Epsilon is unfair TO THE DAILY: Once again, the Daily is jumping through all the hoops in a direct attempt to damage the char- acter of Sigma Alpha Epsilon. You somehow allowed an article to reach your front page (SAE may face expulsion from frat council, 02/07/2005) that was filled with nothing more than lies, false accusations and bogus claims. How can you con- sider yourselves respectable journalists when you cite one "anonymous source" for giving you all the information you base your story on? You begin by intentionally misleading your readers into think- ing SAE members "broke into" two fraternity houses last year when in actuality the break-in you refer to at the beginning of the article is the same Delta Kappa Epsilon incident you discuss at the end. Though another fraternity admitted involve- ment in that incident and the Ann Arbor Police Department did not charge any SAE member with any crime that night, this newspaper wants its readers to believe that SAE was criminal in its actions that evening. In possibly the greatest outrage of all, this paper once again brings up an alleged sexual assault that was deemed consensual and never even investigated by the AAPD. When the Daily first ran a story about that incident, it was met with a slew of angry feedback, some of which was published, but that doesn't stop this newspaper from referring to it yet again one year later. And to top it all off, your online version of the article outlines SAE's charitable works, such as the Mud Bowl, but that concluding sentence was conspicuously left out of the printed version. The bias this paper shows against my fraternity is sickening and will clearly never end which makes everyone wonder how the Daily can call itself a reputable journalistic endeavor. Drew Beres LSA senior The letter writer is a former president of Sigma Alpha Epsilon. Dems' future is Dean, blue-tinged Western states TO THE DAILY: In response to The Scream is Back (02/07/2005): The problems facing the Democratic Party will not be solved by moving to the center. The major failing of John Kerry's campaign was that it did not establish a consistent and strong message. To a certain extent, the chair acts as a spokes- person, but did DNC Chairman Terry McAuliffe have any discernible effect on the 2004 election beyond party organization and fundraising? How- ard Dean's best qualities will shine in his new role as the DNC chair. He's a great fundraiser and an energizing force for the party. He's also not the far- left liberal people tend to characterize him as. He's a strong proponent of fiscal responsibility, some- what pro-death penalty and opposes federal gun laws. Dean is a moderate, but he's not a Repub- lican. The Democratic Party is not in the hands of liberal ideologues. The most important figure in the party, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), is a pro-life moderate. We don't need a Southerner; we don't need a conservative. We need a compelling, principled candidate who knows what he stands for. And why attempt to pick up voters in a region where people take offense when a candidate disrespects a lasting symbol of slavery and racism? Why not look to the Mountain West and states like Montana (with a newly elected Democratic governor and control of the state leg- islature), Colorado (where the Democrats picked up a Senate seat) or Nevada (Reid's home state)? Let's stop worrying about the Bible Belt and get back to taking strong stances on important issues. Dean is a Democrat, through and through, and he will provide a spark for a party badly in need of one. Brian Schacter LSA freshman War in Iraq sought WMD, not freedom TO THE DAILY: In response to Dan Schuster's column about the Iraqi elections (On the wrong side of history, 02/07/2005), I think someone should remind him why we invaded in the first place: President Bush was convinced (or managed to convince America) that Saddam Hussein possessed weap- ons of mass destruction and posed a dire threat to our safety. The "freedom/liberation" idea was an add-on at best. Now that the WMD search has officially ended and there is no evidence to sug- gest that Saddam possessed them, Bush has no choice but to present a new "purpose" for the war. Freedom! Liberty! Democracy! He gives valiant speeches about how wonderful freedom is, and who can argue? Who can say they're "against" freedom? '67) while trotting out parents of a killed-in-action Iraqi marine at his State of the Union speech, both of whom should be asking Bush if he'd be willing to send his own daughters into harm's way for this "great cause." As for the elections, yes, they were inspiring, but whether they were truly successful is question- able. For one, Iraqis weren't voting for a president or prime minister, they voted for a committee of about 250 members who would begin to work on drafting a constitution. Second, the names of the candidates couldn't even be released until a cou- ple of days before the election for fear of violence (And the main Sunni candidate's name was left off the ballot entirely). In fact, the "Independent" Iraqi Electoral Commission, assembled by Paul Bremer during the June "transfer of power," had absolute authority over who could run and for- bade certain candidates from running. Third, the near-60-percent voter turnout that was lauded by the Bush administration was an optimistic esti- mation that is slowly being proven inaccurate as more news emerges about the percentage of reg- istered voters who actually went to the polls, the inability of Iraqi exiles to cast their votes, ballot shortages throughout the country, etc. Generally, though, we should all be happy about the election - at least Iraq is making some progress, and, of course, it was inspiring to see Iraqis defying the insurgents and going out to vote. But we should not just assume that because the elections occurred they were successful, or that invading the country was the right decision. We attacked a country without provocation, a country which we now know posed no threat to our secu- rity, increased anti-American sentiment (and thus terrorism), turned a country into a war zone and have caused the deaths of not only 1,400 Ameri- cans but tens of thousands of Iraqis. Bush had bet- ter hope it's worth it. Claire Leavitt LSA senior Republicans want Dems to move to the center TO THE DAILY: I had to laugh after reading the editorial page on Feb. 7. There were not one, but two articles (On the wrong side of history and The scream is back, 02/07/2005) in which Republicans claim to have found the solution for the Democrats - to move toward the center! Would a football team accept strategic advice from members of an opposing team? Of course not! Democrats, 6