4 -Friday, February 2, 2007 The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan since 1890. 413 E. Huron St. Ann Arbor, MI 48104 tothedaily@umich.edu I I DONN M. FRESARD EDITOR IN CHIEF EMILY BEAM CHRISTOPHER ZBROZEK EDITORIAL PAGE EDITORS JEFFREY BLOOMER MANAGING EDITOR Unsigned editorials reflect the official position of the Daily's editorial board. All other signed articles and illustrations represent solely the views of their authors. The lion's share Lecturers increase demands for new contract ontract negotiations between the Lecturers' Employee Orga- nization and the University began last week, and both orga- nizations have the opportunity to reach a settlement before the critical month of April, traditionally the season of threats to withhold grades or picket graduation. Although the contract won't expire until July, both parties - and students - stand to benefit from an agreement reached well before then. The University administra- tion should agree to a contract with LEO that acknowledges the vital roles that lecturers play at the University. A prerequisite for winning the Nobel Peace Prize is making a difference, and Al Gore has made a difference." - BOERGE BRENDE, Norway's former environment minister and current member of parliament, speaking about former Vice President Gore's recent nomination for a Nobel Peace Prize, as reported yesterday by The Associated Press. RYAN JABER y c Ai aeir esc a e ounAr r cro\ r~uee n+ olo u Onekc\ e - C o, julses 4 4 In defense ofthe surge Union negotiations have had a strident showing in the legacy of a campus dedicat- ed to student activism, but the contentious nature of lecturer walkouts and strikes can pit loyal students against their own academ- ic interests in the name of solidarity. LEO's demands target practices that rel- egate lecturers to a position of inferiority. The landmark 2004 contract raised base salaries, extended health benefits through the sum- mer and improved job security. But the past two years have made clear that the contract, though significant, was far from perfect. LEO and the University continue to clash over job misclassifications, and lecturers still do not receive the benefits their qualifications and roles merit. Members have long complained that the public designation of four classes of lecturer only works to further the festering aura of lecturers as "second-class citizens" on cam- pus. Although the internal structure of the four-tiered hierarchy of lecturers may help organize the University, the public nature of the classification exacerbates a stigma that already divides University faculty. Reevalu- ating the current system of lecturer classifi- cations could help avoid conflicts under the next contract. The jarring disparity in salaries for lec- turers at the University in Ann Arbor and its satellite campuses has created an even less excusable division of educators who have labored for years - and have invested the corresponding amount of money - to become committed and competent educa- tors. At $31,000, minimum salaries are low at the Ann Arbor campus - but they're even lower at Dearborn and Flint. Contractual lim- itations on the number and nature of second jobs that LEO members can work - primarily other teaching positions to supplement their income -piles insult on top of injury. The University may not have spare cash to throw at its lecturers, but it must also recog- nize the integral role its lecturers play in edu- cating students. These coming months will be crucial to consider LEO's demands and put together a plan acceptable to both sides. Most students do not intend to get an edu- cation in labor relations when they enter the University. However, we owe a certain amount of respect and empathy to those instructors who make less in a yearthan many out-of-state students pay to be here. Lecturers teach nearly a third of undergraduate courses on Ann Arbor's campus, and students have a vested interest in seeing the demands of LEO met by the University. If that doesn't come down to solidarity at strike time, it certainly should come in the form of support during these early months of negotiation. s someonev the war in ning, I have interest the roller c( port for it. A large went along with th it went down the w absence of an Iraqi dence of Iraq's nucl dam Hussein's agreement to comply with U.N. regulations. Public support peaked as Amer- ica declared war onIraqcomplete- ly disregarding the U.N. Security Council's lack of authorization and the weapons inspectors' pleas for additional time. The inex- plicable disappearas the administration' around the idea of little to damage pui went on to win his r( his job for another f It was only grads alties mounted and - that public supbi Faced with the pro world of an evil S ing the Iraqis, ms few problems with Iraq. But now that reconstruction and started, everyone troops back home. After meeting w of Staff a few week maximum troop Bush announced h the troop levels in stabilize the countr who was opposed to war. With the announcement, Bush's Iraq from its begin- critics have been forced to take a stand watched with great and call for the hastened withdrawal of oaster of public sup- all American troops from Iraq, even in part of the country the face of growing sectarian violence .e administration as and instability. earpath, despite the Disturbingly, most critics are willing link to Sept. 11, evi- to write off the entire war in Iraq as one lear threat and Sad- of Bush's mistakes that America itself is innocent of and shouldn't be held accountable for. The sad truth, howev- er, is that the warin Iraq is just as much America's responsibility. The president was democratically elected into office. Twice. The war itself would never have been possible without authorization from congress, the support of the public and the approval of leading Democrats like John Kerry and Hillary Clinton. However unpopular the war is now, it's RAJIV important to keep in mind that this isn't just Bush's war - it's America's war. PRABHIAKAR With the rising number of casualties in Iraq, the desire to extricate ourselves from the mess is understandable. With nce of all WMDs and thegrowingsectarianviolenceandthreat s reselling the war of civil war, though, Iraq is in avery per- regime change did ilous situation. Even with 100,000 U.S. blic support - Bush troops in the country, it is embroiled in eelection and secure civil war. Its capital is in disarray. And our years. with the Iraqi army's inexperience, the ually - as U.S. casu- growing Sunni/Shia hostilities and the civil war escalated threat of Iran and Syria gettinginvolved, ort began to erode. the Iraqis are in no position to defend spect of ridding the their newborn democracy., addam and liberat- An American withdrawal in the near ost Americans had future would almost certainly result in sending troops into open civil war with body counts that the job of post-war would dwarf today's numbers. The nation-building has current democratic government would wants to bring the likely be replaced by a Taliban-esque regime, and Iraq would soon produce ith the Joint Chiefs yet another Saddam Hussein or Osama s ago to discuss the Bin Laden. The world would not be a increase possible, safer place and the war against ter- is decision to surge rorism would face its greatest setback. Iraq in an effort to Even more tragically, tens of thousands y and quell the civil of more Iraqis would likely die in the midst of power struggles between Shia and Sunni extremists. When India gained independence from the British 60 years ago, religious tensions forced a partition into two sep- arate nations - India and Pakistan - and millions were either killed or made homeless in the process. There is no reason to believe that Iraq won't suffer a similar fate if American troops start pulling out. With Iraqi civilian casu- alties already in the range of 100,000 over the past four years, America owes it to the Iraqis to ensure that such a fate doesn't befall them. With all the bad news that we hear The war in Iraq is bad. Leaving would be worse. from Iraq everyday, it is easy to write off the situation as being unwinnable. Such an attitude is inherently defeatist. With proper military security to quell sectarian violence, economic efforts to reduce unemployment and political efforts to foster goodwill among the Iraqis, Iraq can certainly be stabilized and promoted as a beacon of democracy in the Middle East. The war in Iraq was a blunder from the very start, and Iraq has certainly been worse off for it. But now that the existing regime has been toppled, there are only two real options available - own-up to the responsibility and do what it takes to stabilize Iraq or admit defeat, bring the troops back home and wash our hands of the bloodbath that will follow. RajivPrabhakar can be reached at rajivp@umich.edu. SEND LETTERS TO: TOTHEDAILY@UMICH.EDU Daily misrepresents date auction with 'editorial rant' TO THE DAILY: In yesterday's article (Date auction courts controversy, 02/01/07), a Daily reporter intentionally swindled Project Suyana mem- bers into what was thought to be an unbiased news article but turned out to be a reporter's editorial rant. It seems the reporter left out key parts of the fundraiser like a 58 Greene and ComCo performance as well as date escorts to supervise the dinner. There is even a written contract all participants sign that gives safety tips and precautions that the reporter coincidentally left out. In addi- tion, Project Suyana has not been notified of any disapproval of the event by faculty, staff, administrators or students. If there is a controversy, it would stem from the report- er's gross juxtaposition of the term "slave trade" with championing a humanitarian aid cause. Dean Ho LSA senior Faultyfocus of date auction story shows lazy reporting TO THE DAILY: I cannot believe the complete lack of jour- nalistic integrity that the Daily showed in an article only peripherally related to Project Suyana's Date Auction (Date auction courts controversy, 02/01/2007). As someone who knows how hard the group's members have worked to make the event possible, I know that the concept has been met with nothing but positive responses from students, faculty and administration. It's shameful that instead of focusing on the positive aspects of the event. the reporter makes frivolous claims that the administration is outraged, even though there has not been an ounce of public outcry. What's most disappointing is that there is so much good that's going unnoticed. Could the reporter have spent more than four words describing Project Suyana's mission to build an entire self-sustaining clinic for the poorest of the poor? Could she have mentioned the fact that, in a time of much campus division, the organizers are bringing in a diverse group of representatives from every single campus com- munity together in order to support that noble cause? Could she even have mentioned thatthe Facebook.com folk hero and college connois- seur Johnny Lechner is coming to host? Instead, the article has a telltale sign of ter- rible journalism - relying on contrived con- troversy and negativity to draw the reader. The only thing missing from this message of doom was a comparison to Nazi Germany. Oh wait, that's in there too from a University administrator. Swastikas aside, it's clear that the reporter simply researched an obscure online state- ment in order to add some spice. She should have used that time researching the date of the event: The auction is tonight, not Thursday, Ryan Jaber The letter writer is an LSA senior and a cartoonistfor the Daily. Daily misrepresents date auction with 'editorial rant' TO THE DAILY: In Thursday's article Date auction courts controversy (02/01/07), the Daily yet again showed us that it values drawing in readers through unsubstantiated claims of controver- sy as opposed to displaying a sense of quality investigative journalism. The reporter tried to claim a controversy between University offi- cials and Project Suyana but never established any direct interaction between the two bod- ies. Based on this article, there is no evidence that any University official has taken action towards Project Suyana or contacted Proj- ect Suyana about the advisory policy. Maybe the reporter should have done more research before framing this issue as controversial. By the way, from our own research, the event is on Friday, not Thursday. Jamie Shenk and Shana Shoem Shenk is an Engineering senior and Shoei is an LSA junior RADHIKA UPADHYAYA They were terrorists How often does a girl like me get the opportunity to mingle with ex-terrorists? Not often. This is precisely why I was so excited to hear the three ex-terrorists who came to speak at Rackham Auditorium on Tuesday. I came at least a half hour early to the presentation, and I was only half surprised to see a group of protesters standing outside. Their signs had phrases like "Zionism is Racism." On my way in, I received a handout discredit- ing the speakers as "Israeli propagandists" and another yellow handout advertising a walkout. I was sure the pro- testers had some merit in whatever they were trying to do, but at this point, I was just eager to get in. The function began with an introduction by Ryan Fan- tuzzi, the vice president of the University's chapter of the Young Americans for Freedom. He informed the crowd that he was aware that "members of far left, Arab and Muslim organizations" were present to stage a walkout and Fantuzzi requested they kindly disrupt the presenta- tion early on so that the rest of the audience would be able to peacefully enjoy the remainder. Fantuzzi then claimed that the protesters were wear- ing the color yellow as the color yellow is associated with Hezbollah. Somewhere between the boos of the crowd, the shock of the Hezbollah comment and the cheers from a small man wearing an American flag as a cape, I sud- denly became extremely uncomfortable and aware of the hostility suffocating the room. After a few moments, Fantuzzi had thankfully left the stage and the first speaker, Kamal Saleem, began to speak. Saleem was an overly confident middle-aged man who boasted of the danger he endured asa 7-year-old ter- rorist. His stories were actually pretty interesting until he started to explain how his Islamic background bred him with the hatred to kill infidels like Americans, Jews and Christians. I was having difficulty hearing his complete explanations due to the heckling from the back. Sure, Sal- eem was offensive, but I was annoyed that the speaker had to strain so much to spitout a few words over the rude interruptions. As Zachariah Anani, the second speaker, was about to share his story about why he rejected the Quran, the protesters walked out. The idea of a walkout at such a significant event seemed kind of disrespectful to me at first, but for the most part, their silent walkout actually appeared pretty sophisticated. There were, of course, a few obnoxious hecklers who made the exit seem a little less graceful, but all in all it was a successful statement made by the departure of about a third of the audience. As the protesters departed, the third speaker, Walid Shoebat, announced in a disgustingly patronizing tone that Ameri- can Idol would be starting in 20 minutes. I cringed at his comment, but that was only the start of Shoebat's theatrical antics. Shoebat loved belittling the protestors. He challenged them with comments like "You know I would love to debate you and squish you like a worm" and "You're chickenshit." What was worse, though, was how the crowd just ate it up. The audience broke out into thunderous applause and gleeful uproar anytime a protestor was verbally attacked. I swear that when one heckler had to be escorted out of the auditorium, the ground shook like it does in the Big House. I have to give Shoebat credit, though, for being such a crowd-pleaser. He too began his speech with anecdotes about being a Muslim with dreams of bringing skulls of his Jewishand Christian victims to the gates of heaven. To demonstrate his reform, he began acting as a devout evangelist on stage. He denounced Middle Eastern cul- ture while singing praises of Western ideals. The crowd loved him for letting Jesus and America save him from the dark side. By this time, I was tired of all the preaching and Islam- bashing. Kudos to another offensive hit Shoebat made, however, when he mentioned a "Hindu Sikh" in one of his stories. Perhaps the saved ex-terrorist forgot Hinduism and Sikhism were different religions. All in all, the presentation was disappointing because Saleem, Anani and Shoebat have so much potential to enlighten audiences with experiences from their past and their personal views of the world. Instead, the speakers just stood there kissing American butt and making broad offensive generalizations. The poor guys felt like puppets of the Islam faith and terrorism, but I guess they didn't realize they were puppets for YAF, too. Radhika Upadhyaya is an LSA freshman. JOHN OQUIST I LOKIT'$ iUKE TOLD YOU T4E OTHER DAY, WLL, WITH TE NEW SUPERPOWER NN EEVEN?" psmt- Y ONE ituEVES it i c n nT EVEA P tIANNED 9/1 " CONTROVERAL 5 N&RACYP LE ni'EPs0tYOU' ~+ Editorial Board Members: Kevin Bunkley, Amanda Burns, Sam Butler, Ben Caleca, Brian Flaherty, Gary Graca, Jared Goldberg, Jessi Holler, Emmarie Huetteman, Toby Mitchell, Rajiv Prabhakar, David Russell, Gavin Stern, John Stiglich, Jennifer Sussex, Neil Tambe, Radhika Upadhyaya, Rachel Wagner.