To the campus community, Kirk's impeachment facilitated a new beginning - a beginning of a group committed to abhor all forms of disreputable conduct and vestiges of ineptitude. To our friends in the membership of the CRs, this was a triumph of hono r and integrity over the improvidence and gross organizational mismanagement that characterized Kirk's tenure and impeded the attainment of our ultimate goals.
In an unexpected turn of events, Kirk was re-elected president to serve out the remainder of the term until the general elections on March 19. To those of us who worked tremendously hard to reform this organization from within, the re-election of Ki rk indicates a failure to attain a heightened sense of responsibility on the part of the 20 or so active members necessitated by the occasion. As officers elected to serve in the best interest of the Republican Party at the collegiate level, we no longer feel we can fulfill our mandate in an environment of individuals impervious to the dictates of sensibility. We therefore resign our positions as vice president, treasurer, and secretary of the CRs. All that is left now is a hope that Kirk's s uccessor will bring this group's maturity to a level commensurate with the challenges facing campus Republicans ahead. It is wrong to assume the conservative movement is dead on campus. It is likewise wrong to assume our individual roles in the figh t for smaller government and more personal freedom have ended. Thank you to the many wonderful people who supported us and continue to encourage us.
Elias Xenos
LSA sophomore
Jennifer Skomer
LSA sophomore
Becky Beamish
Engineering sophomore
While the Daily did run a photograph taken from the forum (although Carlos Africa was erroneously named as John in the caption), as one of the main organizers of the event, I was disappointed that the Daily chose not to send a reporter. Ramona Afri ca is an internationally recognized leader in the worldwide campaign for Mumia Abu-Jamal's freedom and both she and Carlos Africa are themselves former political prisoners. Ramona Africa is also the only adult survivor of the 1985 firebombing of the MOVE home in which 11 people - including five children -were burnt alive and/or shot and 61 homes were destroyed in a black Philadelphia neighborhood.
She was imprisoned for the maximum seven-year sentence from that date until 1992 for "incitement to riot" and other bogus charges, having been told by authorities that if she renounced MOVE and her political and spiritual beliefs, her sentence would be reduced. This she courageously refused to do.
The MOVE massacre at the hands of the notoriously racist and corrupt Philadelphia police department made headlines worldwide in 1985.
Surely Ramona Africa's talk at U of M should have been considered newsworthy - more so than the opening of yet another campus coffeehouse, the "story" the Daily chose to run on the front page of the same issue in which our event received only a page five photo caption.
Stories like Mumia Abu-Jamal's and those of the other approximately 200 political prisoners being held captive in the hellholes of America's prisons and supermaxes are mostly ignored in the mainstream corporate media. In the future, we hope that the Daily will choose to provide more news coverage of important and controversial campus events.
Paul Lefrak
Rackham, Member, Free Mumia Coalition
Moreover, I recently read the U.S. News and World Report reviews of our undergraduate program, an opinion in particular written by a former Daily editor, that criticizes the size and complexity of this fine institution. What is wrong with this pictu re?
I look to policy decisions made in the past few years that dilute and weaken a strong University. I realize that in today's financial world, many universities are strapped for money. I believe that the University's leaders have placed too much empha sis on maximizing the size of the student body to maximize the inflow of much-needed tuition.
When looking at colleges, I wanted a large school - I appreciate the diversity and benefits that a large school has to offer. However, I also wanted a school with a reputation for excellence. I feel that the recent trend toward an ever-increasing st udent body has harmed the atmosphere and reputation of the University. This fact is evidenced by drops in applications, disparaging remarks made by student leaders to national publications and the size of undergraduate classes.
Furthermore, I realize the economic benefits of maximizing size to minimize costs. I am speaking of the proposal to build a giant dining hall in the area of the Hill residence halls. This facility will capture the economies of scale of a large facil ity, but at the expense of part of the undergraduate living experience. I lived in Couzens Hall my freshman year and some of the best memories I have of that year were made in that dining hall. I ask the Housing Division: What memories will future u ndergraduates have of eating with 1,500 others in a giant barn? I think not. At what point is "big" big enough? I think we have already passed that point.
I think that it is time that we rethink our plans to increase the size of the University year after year without regard for the harms that this course of action causes to the University's reputation and satisfaction of students. Maybe I am feeling d isillusioned because I thought that I wouldn't be just another number and that that perception of large universities could not be true of such a great school as U of M. But I ask all of my 4,500-some classmates: Who of you agree with me? I think tha t we all care enough about our school to be concerned.
Scott Buser
Business School