Letters to the Editor

Men's crew is dedicated and successful

To the Daily:

The most recent nationwide poll of rowing coaches ranks the Michigan Men's Rowing Team 18th in the nation. This is a spectacular feat if you consider that men's crew is a club sport at the University. The ranking comes on the heels of Michigan's defeat of Stanford and narrow loss to rowing powerhouse Wisconsin (crew is a varsity sport at both schools.)

Michigan is the only non-varsity program ranked in the top 20 in the nation. While the ranking system is relatively new, I can say that in the 12 years that I have been a fan of collegiate rowing, I have never seen a club team rise to the level of achievement of this Michigan team.

The team's success can largely be attributed to their ferocious work ethic. They begin practice in the first week of fall classes and conclude their season nearly a month after everyone else has gone home for the summer. They practice six days a week year-round, including indoor winter workouts and a spring break of double-sessions in Florida. Many Sunday afternoons I've walked my dog along the Huron River and seen team members out in singles doing extra workouts on their day off.

Considering that they will get no varsity letters and no recognition from the the Daily, the fact that most people on campus don't know they exist, and that they have to raise money and pay club dues even to compete, I suspect that they might all be crazy. Yet, I hope that they find, like I have, that the feeling of completely committing to a race - of pushing beyond your exhaustion because you know that your teammates are doing the same, and those fleeting moments of "swing" when all eight move as one and make the boat skip along the surface of the water, are enough reward for a lifetime.

Kudos to the whole team and to Michigan men's coach Greg Hartsuff, and good luck to both men's and women's teams as they head into the end of the season and the National Collegiate Rowing Championships.

Brian Jamieson

Rackham

Degeneres's speech did not hurt LGBT rights

To the Daily:

After reading the Apr. 14 viewpoint by Derek Meklir on Ellen Degeneres's lecture ("Degeneres's speech hurt gay right cause"), I was amused to see ignorance in its truest form. As a student who helped bring Degeneres to campus, let me clear up a few things.

First, changing the location of the lecture would not have changed anything. "Anyone who would listen" was in Hill Auditorium on Apr. 8. And everybody knows that there is no way 10 to 20 thousand people would have showed up at Crisler Arena. For the lecture to be "effective," the audience simply had to be willing to listen to Degeneres's message and share with those who weren't able to make it.

Second, the term "too gay" is as dumb as the terms "too white" or "too black." They don't exist except in the minds of those who use them. We all know that this world is far from being a utopia. However, using phrases such as "too gay" sets us back even further.

Third, being a celebrity does not automatically make you an activist. Nor do you have to be a celebrity to become an activist.

Finally, if you didn't like the quality of the questions being asked (and I admit, they were short on substance), why didn't you ask a question of your own?

For Meklir and anyone else sharing his opinion, here's my message: It's easy to criticize while watching others make an attempt. If you don't like what you see, do something about it. Until you can fill Crisler Arena (or the West Quad cafeteria) with people willing to listen, hold your criticism.

Janelle Sterling

Engineering sophomore

04-20-99