Trotsky, affirmative action, racist scapegoating, imperialism, right-wing anti-gay bigotry, Luke Massie, witchhunt, white devil, Diag chalkings, mass-militant civil rights movement

These are all names, words and phrases that University students have come to be familiar with for years because of a vocal student group known as the Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action and Integration and Fight for Equality By Any Means Necessary (BAMN) that has dominated the campus political climate.

One of the problems with BAMN is that not all of its members are students. In fact, many of the central organizers are both non-students and members of the Detroit-based Revolutionary Workers League (RWL), a sectarian Communist group that concurs with the socio-economic analyses of L.D. Trotsky.

But BAMN"s exclusionary and inflexible brand of sectarian communism is not the problem at hand its actions and intentions are. Until recently, only a few curious people knew of BAMN"s roots, their activist bases in Ann Arbor and Berkeley, Calif., and their tactics.

At Tuesday"s Michigan Student Assembly meeting, a number of people spent more than an hour speaking out against the organization. The accusations included attempting to secretly co-opt the Black Student Union and other minority and ethnic student groups, violating MSA copy privileges and capitalizing on the recent terrorist attacks to further their political causes.

BAMN members have even accused other socialists on campus of being part of the "right-wing conspiracy." Sorry, BAMN, the revolution does not start in 3909 Michigan Union, MSA chambers.

In order to make amends on campus, BAMN must be open and direct about its ties to the RWL. Although BAMN has many local critics, the group should continue to organize around affirmative action. Regardless of their tactics in the past, everyone on campus must admit the group has drawn a lot of attention to issues surrounding affirmative action.

But now there is a new pro-affirmative action group on campus: Students in Support of Affirmative Action. The group, made up of a coalition of progressive and activist organizations promises to bring a breath of fresh air to the issue.

Of course, it would be ideal if BAMN and SSAA could work together. But considering the attitudes of some of BAMN"s members at Tuesday"s MSA meeting toward members of SSAA, this is doubtful.

If BAMN truly cares about this campus and the positions it actively professes, it must be civil partners with the activist community. The yelling and screaming must end. BAMN must turn over a new leaf or leave campus.