Purpose of campustruth ads is to vilify and incite hatred
To the Daily:
I am deeply disappointed in your decision to publish more of these campustruth.org ads. They are very offensive and hurtful to members of the community including myself. They perpetuate a stereotype that Arabs and Muslims condone terrorism and this is not only false but also racist. These ads were made with the intention of vilifying Arabs and Muslims on campus.
Their purpose is not to open a dialog or to work to analyze the problems in the Middle East so that we can find solutions to them as many students and faculty members here at the University work to do everyday. Their purpose is to create an environment of hate and fear here at the University.
If you go to campustruth’s website they have links to other websites such as campus-watch.org which openly takes part in the spying on and blacklisting of professors and students. These organizations not only have no place here at the University, they are not even associated with students at this University in any way. They are national organizations with the sole purpose of spreading hate-filled propaganda and rhetoric in an attempt to create more hate and more division on this topic which does not need more division but needs more understanding and work together.
Through their actions, these organizations have made it clear that they do not intend to work in a productive manner to find solutions to the problems in the Middle East. Instead, they are attempting to make the debate one-sided thorough propaganda and the threat of having your life and livelihood ruined by ending up on a blacklist. By publishing these ads you are actively aiding these organizations in their low-handed and unethical tactics. I hope that in the future, the Daily will reconsider its decision to publish these ads.
Ashraf Zahr
Engineering senior
Return of campustruth ads to Daily brings with it risk of renewed protest
To the Daily:
I was very disturbed this morning to turn to page 11 of yesterday’s Daily to find that the campustruth.org ads had been brought back! In the two weeks since you ran the first of these ads, a broad cross section of the University community has expressed its outrage and disgust at the racist propaganda so central to this ad campaign. Complaints about these ads have come not only from Arabs, Muslims but other students of all races and belief systems who oppose racism in all its manifestations and stand firmly in solidarity with the Palestinian people.
Even many members of the pro-Israel movement have spoken out against the bigotry expressed in the campustruth.org ad campaign, ostracizing those in their own community who, like Rick Dorfman, claim the ads “tell it like it is.” There is no excuse for your decision to publish these extremely offensive, racist ads once again. I call on the Daily to permanently stop the printing of this disgusting ad campaign and to promptly print a public apology for knowingly propagating messages of anti-Arab bigotry. Failure to do so will result in a renewed wave of protest against The Michigan Daily and its editors as racists.
Ted McTaggart
RC junior
Vice chair, Students Allied for Freedom and Equality
Shiekh wrongly sees only two sides of the media
To the Daily:
In his column, Choking on the fog of war, (04/02/03) Kashif Sheikh criticizes the media for narrowing “the spectrum of acceptable opinion.” He then attacks the media for having “failed miserably to help avert an unjustified war.” So Sheikh lambastes the media first for taking a political stance, and then for not taking a left-wing political stance. This is hypocrisy. It seems Sheikh sees only two sides of the story: the conservative view, and the truth. Even my incredibly nice friend Luke Williams says he’s writing like a fool.
Josh Mandlebaum
LSA junior
University admissions policies accomplish goals; benefit society by creating skilled citizens
To the Daily:
The staff of the Edward Ginsberg Center for Community Service and Learning supports the University’s affirmative action admissions policy. This policy creates a win-win situation for students, faculty and staff at the university and ultimately the communities in which University graduates will live and work. By mindful action in its admissions practices the University has created a diverse student body, which in turn exposes students to an intellectually and socially rich environment in which the free exchange of ideas and perspectives thrives.
The University fulfills its mandate as a public institution by creating programs that reflect the social composition of the state of Michigan and nation. Its role as a public university is to serve all aspects of the public domain. Diversity is the core strength of our nation and most certainly our campus community.
Current world challenges demand a skillful and engaged citizenry that is equipped to think critically. The world needs citizens who can imagine a better world, citizens who are equipped to work for a better world. We at the center perceive that the University’s affirmative action is one important dimension in the education for such a citizenry.
Laura L. Staudacher
Administrative Assistant
Writing on behalf of the Staff of the Edward Ginsberg Center for Community Service and Learning
Radical SAFE should follow lead of Michigan Student Zionists and re-evaluate itself
To the Daily:
I applaud Rick Dorfman’s resignation from the radical Zionist group Michigan Student Zionists. Not only did this group falsely represent the ideals of most Jews on this campus, but also to the nation as he appeared on CNN as a “representative” of Jews on this campus. However, I propose a challenge to the leader of what can only be described as the radically pro-Palestinian group Students Allied for Freedom and Equality. Either step down as Dorfman did, or begin encouraging debate with both sides.
Instead of holding one sided events like last fall’s Divestment Conference whose featured speaker is now being charged by the government as a known terrorist, have more publicized two sided conferences. Fadi Kiblawi and the leaders of his group have only allowed hate and propaganda to filter through his organization as Dorfman did. Straying away from intelligent debate only furthers the hate and tolerance surrounding this issue.
Benjamin Gerber
LSA sophomore