Constitutionally, MSA grants that its solemn duties are "to help foster and preserve an enlightened, free, just and democratic academic community" and "to assure equal and effective participation in student government to all members of the student body." There is no fine print saying "except for international issues" or "unless they are a minority" or that these only apply for issues that are directly "involving the relationship between the University students and the administration" as The Michigan Daily asserts.
No, MSA is a democratic legislative institution that invites groups of students to bring qualms, issues and voices, to be heard and voted on. How can we stand by and decry this openness? How can we say that certain students should decide the pertinence of all issues, and prioritize issues? Anyone with any moral backbone will agree that the death of 1.4 million Iraqis is an important issue that needs to be addressed. And the University is, historically, the leader at confronting these issues. I challenge the Daily to apply its criticisms to MSA's past battles against apartheid in South Africa, the Vietnam War and the brutal massacres in El Salvador.
There are many myths in this whole mess. The Daily's completely anti-constitutional piece "Off Course" (2/2/99) constructs the ridiculously false dichotomy of international issues or campus issues. MSA meetings operate on an agenda. That means that the Iraq issue was added to that night's discourse. Therefore, it dispossessed nothing, it was not a waste of MSA's time because that time was an extension of the regular meeting time. By addressing the humanitarian disaster in Iraq, MSA did not drop any of its other projects that the Daily commends.
The passage of this resolution does not change any of the MSA's successes and current programs. It still will run the coursepack store, defend students' rights, seek to have a student regent and most importantly, grant all students the civil liberties and democratic freedoms that are their rights; even if that means passing resolutions which many do not agree with or consider relevant.
The MSA did the truly democratic thing. It embraced a minority's view and gave it a legislative forum where democratic processes are encouraged: by debating, not by condemning or ruling out. All this nonsense about MSA's role is non-debatable and "unchallengeable." It serves as an inclusive representative body. The MSA did and will do as its constitution mandates. If you feel that is wrong, propose a change. The student body and the Daily need to recognize that democratic freedoms are not disposable and that the sanctions' effects of 4,500 Iraqi kids perishing each month needs to be acted on.
This viewpoint was written
by Will Youmans, an MSA representative. He can be reached over
e-mail at wyoumans@umich.edu
02-04-99
| Previous Article | Next Article |
should be sent to: daily.letters@umich.edu | should be sent to: online.daily@umich.edu |