Letters to the Editor

Daily's coverage has been fair and balanced

To the Daily:

I commend The Michigan Daily for its excellent coverage of Hanan Ashrawi's visit ("Ashrawi: Justice needed in Israel, 10/18/99) and the well-attended Iraq Conference this past weekend ("250 people gather for Iraq conference," 10/18/99). Sana Danish and Danny Katz did a great job with the Ashrawi article, both in its summary and exposition of student reactions and in the accompanying photograph.

Equally as impressive, Emina Sendijarevic's report on the Iraq Conference was thorough and balanced.

I feel that the Daily deserves praise when it is due, and it certainly does here. Thank you.

Will Youmans

LSA senior

Affirmative action helps remedy inequality

To the Daily:

I am writing in response to two anti-affirmative action letters printed in the Daily this week ("Affirmative Action Detrimental to 'U,'" 10/11/99, and "Daily view of affirmative action is 'blatantly biased,'" 10/13/99).

Racial inequality is undeniably present in today's society. Blacks and other minorities are too often victims of atrocious police brutality, inequality in education and other forms of racism imposed by a society that continues discrimination never eradicated by the Civil War or the Civil Rights Movement of the sixties. Opponents think that affirmative action is unfair to qualified white students since they "have lost their chance to attend a high ranking university such as the University" (Lee, 10/11).

Roehl acknowledges that with an illegalization of affirmative action, it will be more difficult for minorities to be accepted to top schools. It is a statistical fact that poor students of all races tend to do worse on the SAT and other standardized tests. This is clearly not their fault. For instance, rat-infested inner city Detroit schools do not have the resources of their affluent, suburban "counterparts" to provide a proper college-bound education. Without affirmative action, such inequalities continue. If the University loses its lawsuits, the number of black, Latino, female and economically disadvantaged students admitted into the Law School and LSA would definitely decrease. The passage of Proposition 209 in California significantly decreased enrollment of minority students to UC schools. In contrast to what affirmative action opponents say about these students' academic records, hundreds of black students with 4.0 GPA and at least 1200 SAT were denied admission. Also, at the New Student Convocation on Sept. 1, we were told that our freshman class is statistically the best the University has had, with a majority of enrolled students having achieved perfect grades in high school. Lee's argument against affirmative action does not hold water.

It seems as if Lee would like to return to Jim Crow, evident in his "apology" to academically excellent minorities, "who, even with the disintegration of Ann Arbor, would still be here." In a country where "separate but equal" is inherently unequal, we need to continue the fight for racial, social, economic and gender equality. Affirmative action is not a perfect solution, but it is a great, important step to upholding original freedoms of the Constitution that have been so absent from our society.

David Lempert

LSA first-year student

T-shirt opponents need to learn to take a joke

To the Daily:

When did the University of Michigan turn into PCU (it's a movie, of you haven't seen it, rent it, or just watch Comedy Central this week). I have never seen so much fuss made over a t-shirt since ... well never, you know why, because it's a T-SHIRT!

And it's a funny T-shirt at that. If I printed a shirt saying "Freshman Guys: Get 'em before they get too fat from drinking and smoking pot every night, ordering Pizza House at 4 a.m. and playing Sega Dreamcast all day," nobody would be kicking up their heels. Berkowitz and Gillman were after one thing: money.

They made it by developing a clever and funny product. Kudos to them. If you want to blame anybody, blame the suckers that wasted $10 to buy a blue T-shirt that will wind up being just another undershirt for their Abercrombie & Fitch striped sweaters.

When did our precious little University get so consumed with political correctness that it forget how to take a joke? Why can't everybody just sit back and laugh - it's good for you. I'm just upset that I didn't think of the slogan first.

Scott Gordon

Engineering senior

Is T-shirt hubbub a unique controversy?

To the Daily:

In reference to Tuesday's article "Shirts' slogan sparks rally for women," all I have to say is that I, for one, was utterly appalled to find out that a couple of frat boys are sexist and attempting to subjugate women! How odd and unique! Surely this has never happened before, thank goodness!

Thank you again, The Michigan Daily, for yet more informative reporting on ... ummm ... well, when I figure that one out, I'll write another letter.

Walter Braunohler

LSA junior

Daily provides coverage of campus events

To the Daily:

Nikhil Kumar suggested in his letter ("Reader: Drag show was undeserving of coverage," 10/18/99) that the "Conceptions of Drag" show was not fit material for a "respectable newspaper," much less its front-page; he wanted real news. As convenient as it is for students to grab a copy of the Daily on the way to classes, some people expect too much.

In my opinion, coverage of "major international crises in other countries" does not so much fall under the purview of The Michigan Daily as does that of events and references immediate and important to members of the University community -especially students.

This has taken the guise of articles on the changing meal plan system and the Binge Drinking Committee, and reviews of new music and of student productions. If you want in-depth reports on the Nigerian elections or Javier Solana's new role in Europe, pick up a professional periodical that can do these topics justice.

I have a feeling, though, that it wasn't so much the coverage of a University event that irked Kumar, as the coverage of a University event that sought to offend and denigrate the wholesome morals and traditional values of upright members of our community. It's unfortunate that donning a beaded gown and applying a rose-colored blush to my face would put ants in the pants of so many people.

The problem is those aforementioned traditional values: They don't allow for an evolving definition of humanity and its sundry expressions. I'd prefer to not live in stagnation, and I won't be caught up in the machinations of intractable, bullheaded self-righteousness. The "self-proclaimed queers" and other denizens of the-way-it-is are calling you out; get your pants out of a knot and see that all life isn't absolute.

Thank you to the Daily for providing news on a wide spectrum of this University's happenings to its readers.

James Christie

LSA senior

10-21-99