Wednesday, June 28, 1995 - The Michigan Daily -5
enying the facts
In making its case against the introduction of
erican ground trops into the Bosnian conflict,
gressionalpolicymakers andpunditshavetrivialized
minimized the bloody, grotesque, genocidal three-
old Balkan war beyond all reason.
The war in Bosnia is more than heartbreaking, and
ch more than a simple civil war. The Bosnian Serb
sos have violated the Geneva Conventions and
ic precepts of intemational law by setting up bmtal
cconcentrationcamps, shellingcivilianpopulation
rs,strangulating the once elegant and multinational
italof Sarajevoand by ignoring the willofthe United
lions and the resolutions of its Security Council.
e Serbian military has contributed manpower,
plies and logistical support to the Bosnian Serbs
pursuit of a Greater Serbia - a figment of Serb
ionalistic mythology. Upwards of a quarter of a
Ilion innocent people have been killed, mostly
snian Muslim civilians. Seventy-percent of
ereign Bosnia-Herzegovina (recognized by the
sited States, the General Assembly and the rest of
est in 1992)has been illegally seized, occupied
ethnically cleansed.
These are the facts. They aresad and brutal and now,
erifiable part of the historical record. And today, the
snianSerbs stillrefuse toacceptagenerous peaceplan
t would divvy up Bosnia and give the Serbs almost
f of the land that is not theirs.
True, the Clinton administration's Bosnian policy
beenabysmal.TheClinton-EU view is tocontain the
,andtosolveitthroughdiplomaticmeans,nottofight
Yet the thorough lack of real leadership by President
oninfailingtoformulateafuImUN-NATOresponse
unequivocal Serbian aggression should, and cannot
rationalized or defended.
A total withdrawal of UN peacekeepers and the
mmencement of sustained NATO bombing of the
rbs,asproposedbytheMajorityLeaderandpresidential
didate Sen. Bob Dole (R-Kansas) though would
doubtedly induce an even wider Balkan war. This
uld make the introduction of a truly sizable gund
rce by the United States and its NATO European allies
uch more likely, to act to prevent utter chaos and to
ct Greek, Hungarian, Albanian and possibly even
ussian intervention.
Recent polls indicate that more Americans would
pport a strong NATO effort to supplement or assist
ROFOR forces in Bosnia than a pull-out of
acekeepers inthefaceofcontinuedSerbintransigence.
is imperative that both political parties recognize that
ur national interest lies in a stable and secure Europe,
es in preventing a wider war, but also in defending
temational human rights. So for the international
ommunity to impose civility on the warring parties,
ially on the Bosnian Serbs, resoluteness is needed,
omWashington toParis.We, as Americans, must face
e reality that some American ground troops may be
alled upon, in addition to air support and military
aterial, to roll back Serb gains. Serious diplomatic
fforts now underway to further isolate Belgrade and
ussianfromMr.Karadzic andthemoremilitantBosnian
erb leadership can be excelerated. To
apitulate.,acquiesce and abandon a united, moral
esponsetoSerbtenacity,militancyandterrorisnothing
ess than a crime.
Manyonthepoliticalstagesuggestasingularplanof
ted punitive air strikes. If that doesn't work, they
fferup isolationism. Yet the sole use of air power in the
agingof warhasneverbeensuccessfulinitsownright
ever. Both the Persian Gulf War and the Rolling
ndercampaigninSouthVietnamhavedemonstrated
is. The Bosnian crisis is not a hopeless one; but
resented with the circumscribed options currently on
e tableitseemsso. High schoolhistory booksteachus
hat the First World War erupted in the Balkans in 1914.
It is a volatile, jam-packed, ignitable region. Kurt
aldheimandhisconfederatesevenhelpeddeportJews
r this region in 1944. Knowing this, we must be
principled in checking Serbian-inspired evil.
Has humanity learned absolutely anything from
history?AnythingatalM?Isethnichatredasall-consuming
and everyday as it appears?
NurABLE QUOTArBE
"Regent Baker always seems to have been as bit preoccupied by
his concers of sexual orientation ..."
-Pes. Dudeiytadt en Baker's question ofDean Machens' ability to be interm provost
View point
Students must be unted in code input
By Anne Marie Ellison important togotothemwithsomething aady written,
Though campus events have slowed down rather than getting their involvement from the outset.
considerably,thereisstillanissuerequiringourcollective 3)Theprocessisextremelysecretive:Thisnewcode
attention: the code of non-academic conduct is going will be discussed and written in closed staff meetings
through some major changes over the summer. These taking place in the Fleming Administration Building.
changes require ou effort to unite as students, as wellas Only those whoareinvited mayattend. A few weeks ago
within ourorganizations. Wainess, Short and former MSA Student Rights
In April,the Board of Regentsstruckdownourcode Commission chair Vince Keenan were denied entrance
of two years, the Statement of Student Rights and to ameeting. Though just a preliminary organizational
Responsibilities. Instead, they sent Vice President for meeting,this was atroublingindicatorofthe attitude that
Student Affairs Maureen Hartford back to the drawing will be taken throughout the process.
board, to start again. And they mandated that she gain 4) The office and its employees often characterize
studentinput,mentioning a few studentsinparticular- any vocal, anti-code student leaders as having a political
Michigan Student Assembly President Flint Wainess, agenda. If caring about student rights is a political
Student Civil Liberties Watch chair Pamela Short aid agenda, I would hope that we all have one.
myself. 5) Judicial Advisor Mary Lou Antieau, who poorly
With little effort toward true student involvement, interpreted the last code, is supervising this project over
Hartford has given a group of four, employed by her the summer. As the person who may be regarded as the
office, the charge to write a new code. The process of downfall of the old code, she has no place on the drafting
gathering student input is left up tois members. committee.
Ihave been amongthosefourandl'mconcernedby Whadolsuggestiresponsetothisshoddy treatent
what I see there. (The other three involved are graduate of student interests? I invite everyone to participate in a
students: two previously worked in the Judicial Affairs student attempt to put together a code thatwe have some
office and the other is not - nor has she ever been- say in. Because it's clear we're going to have a code, we
astudentatthe University.)Despitetheregentsconcern have to find something we can all live with.
that the new code not be legalistic, at least half of these Join in open, public, documented forums and
students have a background in the law. meetings to discuss the theory and philosophy, as well as
There is very little respect for the student body in the practice of a code. They'll be infomal, t esearching
process and its rhetoric as it currently develops. This meetings in the summer. Much of the real work must
small work group intends to hold primaily closed wait until the fall,when the majority of students return to
meetings.Itwillgatherinput-ratherthaninvolvement campus.Insteadofblindly acceptingtheopportunitythe
- in a highly controlled environment: the plan is to administration will offer us, let's do something to
gather input in June (before writing a code) in focus contribute to our own governance.
groups and meeting sessions withstudent groups.We'll I ask that you not legitimize the Office of Student
be invited toshare our opinions. Then,having written a Affairs' ay of doingthings. When invitedtogive input
code, the group plans to get feedback from students in for your group, RSVP and tell them thanks, but no
the fall. That's how our last code was written, and the thanks.Because every student voice that'snmomentaily
results were not exactly successful. considered in the code-writing process, the easier it
Among the problems in the current proposal, there becomes to justify a poor process and a poorer final
are several specific concerns: document. Don't be the scapegoat for an oppressive
1) Most students aren't on campus during the codeinthefuture-anddon'tlegitimizethesemethods
summer.Whileitmaybemoreefficienttodoitnow,the and procedures.
interests of the governed won't beaddressed. Also, the Pleasejoinme,MSA andotherstudentgroups inthis
Daily isn't around full time to document an open and stand for student rights.
public process. Iamoften told that participating inthe drafting ofthe
2) The process isnot inclusive: input fiomminority code is not an issue of democratic involvement in our
groups is gathered as if an item on a checklist. Among own governance. Together, let's try to change that.
the group of four, minorities are not well represented, -Elison is the chair of the Michigan Student
nor are undergraduates. Many have said that Assembly StudenttRights Commission. Meetingsfor
undergraduate students didn't generally understand discussion of the code will take place at 9:30 p.m.
anything about conduct codes, so it often became on Tuesday ttights at MSA throughout the sunter.
by Matt Wimsatt
//
f 1A
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Racis'm is liatent
The recent discovery of hidden racist messages
printed in high school yearbooks in both Connecticut
and Bloomfield Hills should come as no surprise to
anyone. It is absurd and dangerous to believe that
racism is a thing of the past or that it is contained to
only certainsregions. Racismlives and thrives hidden
in the hearts of many, and it surfaces itself in coded
messages everyday.
What greaterexampleofthe prevalenceofracism
thantwoinstancesofgraduatingseniorsfromwealthy
suburbs inputting messages such as "KillAllNiggers"
into their yearbooks. More proof that formula of
"money plus education" does not always equal
"sophistication" - sometimes it produces nothing
but pure trash. Due to the slip up of these scumbags
America is taking another hard look at the ugly
underbelly beneath its spacious skies and amber
waves of grain and wondering - how could this
have happened?
If high schools can help students master the
complexities of chemistry and biology, why can't
they teach the simple concept that it is wrong to hate
someone based on the color of their skin?
Regardless of whether bigotry and prejudice are
learned on the streets or in the homes, our nation's
schools should show no tolerance for its purveyors.
Schools needto take these incidents asa serious sign
that they need to rethink their approach to teaching
concepts like bigotry, prejudice and
multiculturalism.Officials at Lasher High in
Bloomfield seem baffled as to how their students
could have committed such a heinous act. After all,
the school sponsors special fieldtrips tothe Holocaust
center, a multicultural retreat for students, and even
a half-semester course about prejudice.
While these programs certainly mean well, they
are simply not enough. Lessons about prejudice and
multiculturalism need not be isolated from other
classroom subjects. Given only in small occasional
doses, these lectures are all too easily forgotten.
Instead, core social science courses such as English
and history should incorporate a multicultural
teaching approach.
It is indeed a form of institutionalized racism to
teach the social sciences exclusively from a
Eurocentric perspective. Yet, many high schools
omit African history from the curriculum and rarely
assign books from minority authors. Schools that
limit theircourses to studying only European culture
must realize that they are providing an environment
that actually fosters racism through ignorance.
By not focusing on contributions of minorities,
our educational system is sending out the message
that these groups are not important enough for study
- that they have accomplished nothing. Quite the
contrary. In fact, I wish all high school students were
requiredtoreadRalph Ellison's"ThelnvisibleMan"
and MayatAngelou's "I Know Why The Caged Bird
Sings'The sheer power oftthese two talented African
American writers, it seems to me, could defeat even
the coldest, lowest form of racists and erase any
doubts in the capabilities of African Americans.
Unfortunately, if Republican state legislators
had their way, writers like Ellison and Anglou
might never appear in classrooms. Ironically, the
controversy in Bloomfield Hills occurred in
conjunction with a hotly contested debate over a
proposed new statewide English curriculum for high
schools that stresses multiculturalism. Republican
opponents claim that incorporating different
ethnicities will detract too much from classic
Americantexts.(Apparently we'retobelieveAmerica
consists solely of a homogenous breed, and learning
about other cultures is not something that should
occur in the Great Melting Pot.)
Could it be thatifor these Republicans "American"
means "white?" This glaring misconception is self
defeating. The study of American culture is that of
Africans, Asians and Hispanics. A true education
would recognize and seek to include these groups.
Maybethenracismwillonlybe adisantmemory
preserved in a dusty old yearbook.