So far, Coming Out Week has outed more homophobes than closet gays, lesbians or bisexuals. Last Monday, we awoke to the defacing of many of the pro-COW messages chalked on campus by the Queer Unity Project. The QUP's messages were either covered or altered in favor of pro-Dole/Kemp messages. Many of the paper flyers were simply torn down.
Not only is this an inappropriate way to campaign for one's political party, it also has sent an important message. The homophobes on this campus are not going to be silent. This means that those of us, straight and gay, in support of gay/ lesbian/bisexual rights should not be silent anymore either.
I sure wouldn't come out to a community that didn't challenge the kind of homophobic action that took place last week. This was a call to those of us who show our support in our private circles to let all the gays, lesbians and bisexuals on campus know that they have friends out here too. The coming-out rally on the Diag last Friday at noon (was) an excellent opportunity for us to show our support and to stand up to the homophobes on this campus who make their voices heard every day. Another straight male in support of gays, lesbians and bisexuals everywhere.
Michael Campbell
LSA fifth-year student
I would like to add my voice to the chorus of support for our incumbent congressional representative, Lynn Rivers. Despite the near libelous accusations of Juliette Cox ("Rivers is inept; Vote Fitzsimmons," 9/25/96) and Michael Navratil ("Fitzsimmons wants to serve the community," 9/25/96) Rivers has been a model of integrity, efficiency and prudence, and her record speaks for itself.
Rivers is a strong voice in Congress for student concerns and for the working family. She should know as she is one of the few members of Congress with a blue collar background. It is refreshing to see her vote counted among a sea of pin-striped millionaires and career politicians. I encourage students and Ann Arborites alike to cast their vote for Lynn Rivers.
Jeff Keating
LSA senior
"Latino/a" - ? You've obviously spent hours agonizing over your headlines and apparently the best you could come up with is this awkward, obviously artificial construction ("50 students to join national Latino/a rally," 10/9/96). Pick a label and stop worrying about every possible reaction. "Latino/a" does not say "oh, they care" or "hey, they have an appropriate level of consciousness." It just says "wow, they need a better editor."
Andrew Fabbro
ITD staff
I think that all right-thinking people in this university are sick and tired of being told that ordinary, decent people are fed up in this university with being sick and tired. I'm certainly not! But I'm sick and tired of being told that I am!
Andrew Kim
School of Music Tech Lab Monitor
In the race for Michigan's 13th congressional seat in the U.S. House, only one candidate is firmly committed to supporting reproductive choice for women.
Joe Fitzsimmons, the Republican nominee, has been wavering on this issue during the campaign. In response to a survey from Planned Parenthood, he claimed he supports the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court decision, Roe vs. Wade. However, in another survey for Lifespan News, a pro-life newsletter, Fitzsimmons said that he would support legislation permitting states to restore protection to unborn children if Roe vs. Wade were overturned by the Supreme Court. Does Fitzsimmons support a woman's right to terminate her pregnancy or not? Lynn Rivers is the clear pro-choice candidate in the 13th District. She has always and will always support reproductive freedom for women. To send a clear message that this issue is too important for indecision and pandering, as well as protect the country from Republican attacks on abortion rights, I will support Lynn Rivers for Congress.
Matthew D. Kirk
LSA senior
The University has sold out again. First they sold the good name of our football program to Nike. Now they have sold the dean of Engineering to Robert J. Vlasic, the pickle tycoon. I support capitalism, but what is next? Will our leader be the K-Mart president of Big Boy's University of Michigan, governed by the Mobil Oil Board of Regents? And if one of our donors has discriminatory hiring practices, will we be too greedy to give up the funds?
Preston Robert Tisch, a tobacco baron, wants us to name the new humanities building after him. Some of the money will go to help our athletes. Can we allow our athletes to be sponsored by cigarette money? It's bad enough that we are renaming buildings at a public university based on the wealth of private individuals; we didn't need a pickled dean.
Joshua Raymond
Engineering senior
I believe that the American people have been finally treated to a real issue that they can debate in this presidential election cycle: foreign policy. I believe that with President Bill Clinton, the record is clear:
No. 1. Bosnia is still a war zone; the elections merely put off a continued war.
No. 2. Saddam Hussein is better off now than he was four years ago.
No. 3. Haiti still has death squads roaming the country.
No. 4. Our policy toward the Middle East has been to force Israel to negotiate with those who seek to destroy the Jewish race (sic).
Clinton's foreign policy is filled with black holes: Money and troops flow in, but nothing comes out.Bob Dole has articulated to the American people that his foreign policy will be one of seeking American interests above all else.
I believe that is a principle that all Americans can agree on. Finally, it is time to restore our allies confidence in the United States. Without Israel, we would not have been able to keep the Soviet Union from having a strategic advantage over the United States in the Middle East. It's time we stopped forcing Israelis to give up land that has been their heritage for thousands of years to terrorists. Dole will be a better friend to Israel than Clinton.
Nicholas Kirk
LSA junior
We appreciate Jeffrey Kosseff's article ("'U' web sites visited 500,000 times each day," 10/1/96) about University Web sites which serve as resources to students, but we'd like to correct the URL listed in the article: The OWL (Online Writing and Learning) can be found at http://www.lsa.umich.edu/ecb/OWL/owl.html. The article listed everything in lower case, and unfortunately, on the Web, case matters.
Rebecca Rickly
OWL Coordinator