Balkan catastrophe suffers from misinformation
A viewpoint by Umbrin which would stir inside us by who live in reservation camps in
Ateequi and Jenny Babcock, associating Nazism with what is the United States.
printed on April 19th, titled Serbian, the authors irresponsibly What also cannot be tolerated
"Genocide in Kosovo resembles pronounce that "the three-finger is disrespect for our leaders of
Holocaust," demands a response, Serbian salute resembles the global peace and civil rights by
for it demonstrates much of the Nazi salute" The authors have using their messages of social
misinformation and sensational- made a powerful accusation on a equality and human justice to
istic portrayal this complex people, enforcing' a demonizing advocate violent means of prob-
huian catastrophe has suffered label upon thems when indeed lem solving and opposition to
from. It lacks academic responsi- many national salutes or hand evil. Although Dr. Martin Luther
ity in a presentation ofhistori- salutes symbolizing opposition King (which the viewpoint had
cal events and demonizes a peo- resemble one another. It is also quoted) reminded us that "the
ple based on an ignorance or dis- irresponsible to make such an tragedy is not the brutality of
respect of culture. Such methods accusation without exploring the evil, but also the silence of good
have garnered support for the practice's cultural roots. In this people," the foundation of his
current violent military opera- case a display of three fingers teachings and advocacy was
tions on the peoples of the (the thumb, index and middle based on nonviolent resistance.
Federal Republic ofYugoslavia. finger) signifies a declaration of We have the leaders, internation-
Advocates of the current vio- the principle that underlies al institutions and diplomatic
lent military intervention have, Orthodox faith: The Holy Trinity means to deal with such con-
either unsuspectingly or quite (the Son, the Father and the Holy flicts. Ironically, the authors ask
intentionally, reverted to the very Spirit). us, "What has happened to our
$vn methods of propaganda that If the authors are prepared to sense of humanity?" Indeed what
they accuse the regime of support "arm(ing) the Kosovars has happened to our sense of
Slobodan Milosevic of practic- so they can defend themselves humanity, when people have
ing. This includes a distorting from Serbian aggression" they accepted violence as the only
simplification of the situation as should also be prepared to means to deal with our problems,
a "genocide resembling the endorse an arming of a whole lot and still have not recognized its
Holocaust,' which would natu- of other ethnic groups. such as cyclic nature?
rally evoke a great degree of the Kurds, the numerous indige- - This iietpoint was
sympathy from the public. To nous peoples of Latin America, witten br LSA senior
feed off of the fear and horror and even the Native Americans Stephanie Pitsirilos
S TO THE EIOR

Monday, May 17, 1999 - The Michigan Daily - 5
Sports, money and other troubling combinations
It's the case that will leave a nasty stain on sell themselves to the highest bidder. We
the University's men's basketball team for want our athletes to win in an unadulterated
a long, long time. Just when everyone way (hence the drug tests).
thought it was fading away like a bad dream, They are supposed to attend as many
our own home-grown basketball scandal, classes as I do, even if they aren't attending
with its eye-catching details - the hundreds the University for academic purposes, but for
of thousands of dollars in cash, the expensive a ticket to the NFL or NBA. Academics are
car rolling over into a ditch, an important - that' swhat a university
infamous recruiting class and someis for. But there's nothing wrong with
suspicious birthday cakes - hit the admitting that we're all here for dif-
press once again last week. There ferent reasons. The purity expected of
are a lot of components to this case, these students can be pretty unrealis-
from alleged gambling to less than tic -and border: on exploitive.
squeaky clean recruiting methods, The athletic department, wvhich is
but what it all boils down to is financialy independent from the
money. University, has too much of a free
Sports, even at the non-profes- rein - and both sides are at fault.
sional collegiate level, involves an University President Lee Bollinger's
obscene amount of money. From EMILY opting to exclude himself from the
the amount it costs to back the ACHENBAUM decision to fire ex-basketball head
football team - their trainers to iI Nt I coach Steve Fisher neglected one of
steak dinners - to the amount of ill: tU.H his fundamental duties as University
revenue such a high-profile creates, president.
the volume of money going both in and out As an example, it was Bollinger's job to
of the athletic department amazes me. The hire new Athletic Director Tom Goss -- if he
Nike Deal, the Big House renovations, the so desired, he could fire Goss along with
cost of parking on football Saturdays... every other administrator, faculty member
everything sports-related at this school just and staffer at will. As the president of the
smells expensive to me. University, it is Bollinger's duty to uphold the
But the athletes don't get to touch the mil- University's image. In order to accomplish
lions they help generate for the University or this, he must be keen about every issue
the profit apparel makers earn off selling affecting the campus community, especially
their namesake jerseys. It doesn't seem quite something of the basketball investigation's
fair that somebody is making a killing off top magnitude.
University athletes. Yet in order for our sports Michigan hails its athletic programs,
teams to be ethical, players can't get "bene- placing them on the same level of its strong
fits." academics. It is the responsibility of the pres-
Universities want their student-athletes to ident to preside over the entire University,
be students first, athletes second. We want not certain aspects.
them to be "amateurs," that is, competing for - Emili' Achenbaum can be reached over'
the thrill of it. Not professionals, willing to e-mail at emilysa@umich.edu.
Violence at Ku Klux Klan rally must be punished
GG top the Witchhunt! Fighting Racism is media attention no doubt led to not only to
Not a Crime!" This poor analogy refer- increased visibility all over the country for a
ring to the nine people arrested for rioting at last hate group, but also resulted in giving the KKK
year's Ku Klux Klan rally on the steps of city and invaluable piece of propaganda that they can
hall is stuck, literally, all over Ann Arbor. By use to solicit funds and recruit new members
now, almost everyone has seen the intrusive long into the future. Let's hear it for the rioters
stickers and posters pasted or taped onto various folks.
surfaces owned by the city or Sympathizers for those arrested
University bearing the address for the seem to like to talk a lot about the
"Ann Arbor Anti-Racist Defense dangerous, genocidal message" the
Campaign" who are, apparently, the KKK broadcasted to the citizens of
proud financiers of organized vandal- Ann Arbor last year. They seem to have
ism. forgotten that a message can only be
The reasoning of the masterminds e dangerous if it is preached to the right
behind the sticker campaign, while audience. Judging from the social and
semi-understandable, could not be political landscape of this city, not to
more misguided. After all, the "vic- mention the reaction of its residents to
tims" of last year's uprising are mem- the rally, I find it very difficult to
bers of one of the largest and most NICK believe that the KKK's rhetoric was
powverfuil white supremacy organiza- WOOMER received with any measure of enthusi-
tions in the country. Should we really asm. By acting out and creating a spec-
be punishing people for assaulting a 111 WI 'k-iM tacular news event however, the rioters
bunch of social parasites? essentially did the KKK's work for

Scoreboard
has potential
for graduation
TO THE DAILY:
We are two seniors who
recently graduated with thou-
n ds of other students like us.
e were excited to officially
clamor into the stadium once
more with our fellow departing
classmates to celebrate the
impressions we have made at this
school, as well as the impressions
that have undoubtedly been made
on each of us throughout these

four (or maybe more) years. We
realize that unlike other smaller
schools, we did not have the
means, nor the time, to listen to
our names being individually
read and have our accomplish-
ment announced to all who were
present on that day. But then we
thought about where we graduat-
ed and how vast our sports com-
plex is. How could we have com-
municated to the masses at grad-
uation our presence as individu-
als, yet our presence as a student
body simultaneously? Our minds
leapt to the scoreboard and its
potential. A vision of a seeming-
ly endless stream of names that
would flash throughout the grad-


uation ceremonies so that all
graduates could find themselves
within the masses and all family
members, friends and other cele-
brants could see for themselves
the sheer size of the success and
the parts that comprise our
accomplishment. We propose
that the administration please
consider using the stadium score-
board to display the names of
those in future graduating classes
at commencement. What do you
think, Lee?
BETH HAVACH
AHRAN KANG
UNIVERSITY ALUMNI

em ~ ~ ~ 4 V.11~ S *S
C5 -nm
r--S END LETTERS TO TEf EDITOR TO dlaiLyletters@umich-edu

Yes. The pretrial hearing for the nine
resumes tomorrow and prosecutors must not
back down to pressure from the protesters who
will evidently be making a scene outside of the
courthouse during the proceedings. If any of the
nine are found guilty under the law for their
alleged offenses, they should be punished just as
harshly as any other person convicted under
similar circumstances.
As possibly the most progressive and diverse
city in the state, Ann Arbor is probably the worst
place for a white supremacist group to whip up
support for an ignorant, hate-filled agenda. It
ought to come as no surprise that the KKK
comes to Ann Arbor because they are ensured a
strong (if not violent) reaction. Any of the riot-
ers at last year's march can give themselves a pat
on the back. Their actions and the resulting

them and brought their message to many more
people than a simple rally ever could have.
Absent these sorts of practical considera-
tions, there is also the radical notion that there is
something inherently contemptible about unnec-
essary violence against all people, no matter
how repugnant their beliefs may be. Instead of
heading out to defend a group of people who are
accused of actions that surely lead to one of the
most successful KKK rallies in the history of the
state, bored Ann Arborites might want to do
themselves a favor and imagine a scenario
where the KKK comes to our fair city for a rally
only to find no protesters, no shouting or chant-
ing and no flying projectiles. What then? Not
much, just an ineffectual KKK rally.
- Nick Woomer can be reached over e-mnail
at nuoomer @twnich..edu.