Letters to the Editor

'U' students should get hockey seats

To the Daily:

For four seasons, I have dropped everything to trek out to Providence, Cincinnati, Milwaukee and Boston to cheer for Michigan's fantastic hockey team. Twice, the reward has been a national championship.

Three years ago, I screamed from the third row during the heart-breaking loss to Maine. Two years ago, I screamed from the fifth row, along with the rest of the students, while Brendan Morrison, Marty Turco and crew were crowned the best in the nation. The students' chants echoed across the ice in full support of their team.

Then something went drastically wrong. University students arrived in Milwaukee last year to find themselves relegated to a distant corner of a cavernous arena. And guess what? The same thing happened in Boston. After 400 seats were delegated to Michigan fans by the NCAA - 300 in the lower section near the ice and 100 in the upper-upper deck, somewhere close to Valhalla - the Athletic Department got to assign them. The team got a nice block of 160 seats. That left only 140 lower-deck seats for super-rowdy student fans, right? Nope. Students didn't know until they arrived that they had been duped again. The 140 seats went to the Victor's Club, alumni and similar types while the 100 nose-bleed seats went to the students. The Athletic Department short-changed the team of its raucous fan base, those who had driven 12 hours to see Michigan kick some ass.

Some students improvised, storming an unoccupied lower section for the last two periods against New Hampshire. The team knew its fans were there and the UNH goalie knew it too - I taunted him the whole second period. Muckalt and Turco were smiling as they heard the fans familiar voices. But Michigan wasn't so lucky for the final, and the Victor's Club and alumni simply could not substitute for students' loud, obnoxious, continuous chanting. Try as they might, the students were just too far away to be heard well on the ice. I hope Athletic Director Tom Goss wakes up and returns the student fans to the better seats they deserve for future Final Fours.

That said, Michigan is the national champion again. Red's boys have been spectacular. I would like to thank them for four wonderful years.

Jayson Cohen
Rackham

Nargrant and Savic's list is a 'joke'

To the Daily:

Truly, I have not read anything as ridiculous as the viewpoint printed in Monday's Daily by Mike Nagrant and Olga Savic. Their list of "accomplishments" is a joke on many students. For instance:

n Dispersing funds to student groups is not an accomplishment - it is their job. What is so wonderful that we should congratulate the Michigan Student Assembly for taking our money, and then giving it back to us?

n Kicking Wok Express out of the North Campus Commons was an accomplishment? How is decreasing the choice of where to eat for North Campus students by 30 percent during the day and 50 percent at night a good thing? While the Wok admittedly had fairly standard fake Chinese food, at least you could get rice there - and now there is nothing to replace it, leaving students to wait more than 20 minutes for a slice of pizza or a cup of coffee.

n Reduce printing costs and enhance computing packages? No, this isn't an accomplishment either - not since the Information Technology Division changed their computer package so that students have less choice while paying more money.

A word of advice to Trent Thompson, Sarah Chopp and MSA: Please look at Mike and Olga's list carefully. If you really want to affect student lives, talk to them more, and pad your resumé less.

Kristen Gibbs
College of Architecture and Urban Planning

Affirmative action is not such an 'easy question'

To the Daily:

I'm writing in response to Avi Derrow's "Affirmative action is racism" (4/9/98). Never before have I encountered more bloatedly self-important prose than this half-baked anti-affirmative action attempt. Unfortunately, the blatant ignorance and social maladjustment with which this article barks are two of the main factors that keep the boiling affirmative action debate in the fetal stages of development.

The letter itself was difficult to read because I was constantly distracted by the piercing wail of 100 babies crying. Derrow, if you're going to horse through the old "affirmative action is racial discrimination" poop again, then at least have the self-respect to remind yourself, in between shouts, of a few things: The "freedom" in this country you speak of is not a universal right, so to speak. It is a priveledge granted to you by the blood of people who died for it. Your cries of "me, me, me!" are clear testimony to the fact that you don't realize that America is unique in the individualistic precepts upon which our nation is founded. Your sadly bold letter only convinces me of one thing - how little thought you've put into it.

I was once like you. I once believed that a policy that looks at something other than pure merit would be shamefully unAmerican. Something then occurred to me that might happen to you if you would turn the volume of your voice down for a moment: I acknowledged the problem.

You have yet to acknowledge that there is a problem with imbalanced racial representation. You refuse to accept the countless social, legal, economic and hateful injustices that have led to the present state of imbalance. You also seem to feel that you (the "individual") are vastly more important than the scores of underrepresented racial groups to which affirmative action offers opportunities - and you feel that your niche in the world would be jeopardized by the policy.

I concede that affirmative action is an imperfect solution to an imperfect world's problem. Unfortunately, it is the present solution. I would love to see a way to solve America's racial stratification that would protect all citizens while it cleared the path. Interestingly, Derrow doesn't seem to care about that.

You need to acknowledge the problem. Then you need to calm down and realize that your opinion is nothing unless you offer a constructive solution to the problem in our society instead of saying (let me paraphrase) "I don't give a sh** about the country's problems, I just want to bask in the rights it grants me." Well? What do you propose to remedy this problem in America? Take your time, write another letter to the Daily. This isn't such an easy question to answer.

Paul Bhasin
School of Music

Daily did not offer ample coverage to Islam holiday

To the Daily:

As some may know, April 7 was Eid-ul-Adhar, possibly the most important holiday in the Islam faith. Curious to see how the Daily covered this day of celebration for more than one billion Muslims worldwide. I looked through the Daily only to find a brief article in the back of page nine ("Muslims celebrate Eid-ul-Adha, honor sacrifice of prophet," 4/8/98).

Needless to say, I was upset. It seems to me that while important holidays in Christianity and Judaism always earn front-page status, the same accord is not given to Muslim celebrations. Islam is the fastest growing religion in the world and in the United States, where it is estimated by many to be the second-largest religion in terms of followers. Papers like The New York Times featured beautiful front-page photos on Eid-ul-Adhar, and the Daily does a disservice to its readers by not doing the same.

Saladin Ahmed
LSA junior

04-15-98