The point I'm trying to make is that maybe Shuen doesn't comprehend what role the engineer plays in our society. What I like to believe separates engineers from just someone good at science is that the engineer has the creativity to pose and answer a question. I don't suppose Shuen has taken an engineering course (few LSA people do, unlike engineers who take LSA courses from various departments); if Shuen would, then maybe the picture would become a little clearer.
Shuen also confused me by stating that shareholders are the ones who originally had the idea and have liberal arts degrees. First, I believe most companies start out private and then go public. Therefore, most of the shareholders cannot be the ones that created the idea. Second, Yahoo's founder was an engineer, as was Intel's, Hewlett-Packard's and Sun's.
This list is not complete, and I do not say all of those who "originally had the idea" are engineers, but Shuen's letter makes it sound as if a bunch of LSA grads are starting companies being fronted by engineers and MBAs. That's simply not the case.
David Granda
Engineering sophomore
As a University community, we have worked to create an environment of respect for the many groups and entities that comprise our world here at the University. In recent years, we have formalized our commitment to this high ideal by carefully articulating these goals in policies and acting on these goals through programs and services. Because of this commitment, we find it necessary to speak out against behavior and speech that we feel violates values so important to our sense of community.
Some of the campaign materials, both printed and electronic, have offended many individuals and groups by their racist, sexist and demeaning tones. A thorough evaluation of the complaints filed about this election publicity has concluded that there has been no prosecutable violation of the University's Code of Student Conduct, the guidelines on groups as monitored and enforced by the Department of Public Safety. But that does not mean that we, as a community, must find these to be acceptable expressions.
As we look to the 21st Century, it is imperative that all of us in this community work together toward a shared vision. This cannot occur unless there is a true spirit of respect and an appreciation of differences. A true spirit of community is forged not just by making certain that we exercise all of our basic rights to the maximum. It is instead created and nurtured by an awareness of others around us and by a mature appraisal of the consequences of our behaviors on others who also comprise this community.
We recognize the pain this campaign has visited upon the African American community directly and the other communities of color by extension. We also recognize that the lack of respect demonstrated in this campaign affects and diminishes all of us in this community. Our hope is that we can provide support to those individuals whose historic struggles have been trivialized and mocked. We also must recognize that we are all lessened when any group in our community is harmed.
We wish to invite all groups to continue to express and assert their concerns in a constructive and productive fashion. We realize that this letter, the latest in the many campus communications distributed during the last couple of weeks, is part of this ongoing dialogue and debate that we wish to foster and support in these difficult times.
Maureen Hartford
Vice President for Student Affairs
E. Royster Harper
Associate Vice President for Student Affairs
Anyone who is interested in feminism and combatting racism should be very excited to hear a speaker of this caliber, who has managed to rise above the harshest limits placed on her by apartheid, to one of the top academic positions in South Africa.
So what if somebody on the street wouldn't recognize her name? Isn't that a rather shallow basis on which to judge someone's character?
For anyone who would like to further explore what sort of person she is, I recommend the University of Cape Town's Website at http://www.uct.ac.za/. More specifically, a short summary of Ramphele's history can be found at http://www.uct.ac.za/depts/dpa/execbios/vc-biog.htm.
Philip Machanick
University faculty
I have competed with the U of M Waterski team (yes, Michigan has a Waterski team) for four years. In September of 1996, the team qualified to compete at nationals for the first time ever by placing second in the Midwest region. Since the team was only six years old at the time, had no coach, and paid for its boat and other equipment on its own, this was quite an accomplishment.
When I called the Daily about getting this event covered in the paper, I was told that they had just changed their club sports policy and no longer covered any of them. Two days later, a story about the women's rugby team ran in the Daily. The story was not about them winning any titles or qualifying for any major competitions; instead, it was simply about a game they had played. When I subsequently called the Daily to ask why there was a story about a club sport after their policy change, I was told that "the story had already been given to the writer before the policy changed, so they didn't want to take it away from her." I'll buy that, but why for the next year did I continue to see sporadic articles about other club sports in the Daily? If the Daily sets a policy, it needs to stick with it.
Many club teams could use the publicity of a story in the Daily for recruiting new members, and I'm sure that readers would find these stories more interesting than some of the Daily's other pointless stories.
Laura Wooster
University alumna
04-20-98
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