SAPAC editorial inappropriate
To the Daily:
Your editorial (Who you gonna call?, 7/12/04) was
thoughtless and ill-titled. First, the Daily has too easily
accepted the pseudo-compromise that the University Administration
offered, basically just of keeping the old 936-3333 phone number,
while excluding the student crisis line volunteers from serving
further on the line (Is there some huge body of information that
they were really terrible in their jobs? Or were some of them
deemed “troublesome” for signing a 2003 petition to rid
Bernard Robinson Jr. from the basketball team?) and still making
survivors go to CAPS.
Second, as a sexual assault survivor and SAPAC client I know
informed me, you trivialized the matter of rape by evoking the 1984
soundtrack from the film “Ghostbusters” with your
absurd “Who you gonna call?” title.
While your editorial may have been well-intentioned, it was
neither mature nor truly thoughtful. The Daily should consider
publishing an apology to survivors for the
“Ghostbusters” nonsense and should be more alert about
the need for preserving the former, and admirably functional, form
of SAPAC without needless changes which upset so many assault
survivors and other citizens of the University community.
David Boyle
Alumnus
Mediation can solve Israel-Palestine conflict
To the Daily:
Last week, the International Court of Justice at the Hague ruled
that the wall Israel is building in the West Bank is a violation of
international law due to its construction on internationally
recognized Palestinian territory. Many in the international
community were thrilled to see the world’s premiere court
stand up to another in a series, along with the illegal
settlements, of Israeli land grabs of Palestinian terrain. This
bubble was soon popped when Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon
declared that his government would continue building the unlawful
wall and American officials announced that the United States would
veto proposed United Nations Security Council resolutions
condemning Israel’s erection of the wall in the West Bank.
Due to these reasons and the continuing misery that Palestinians
are forced to endure due to the 37 years of Israeli military
occupation, it comes down to the international community to become
more involved in settling the decades-old conflict.
The first step that can be taken by the international community
would be to send U.N. observers into the West Bank and Gaza, in
order to have an objective delegation examine and file reports on
what is actually going on in the occupied territories. This is not
a new idea; it has been suggested on a number of occasions. The
only thing that has spared Israel from international observers is
the U.S. veto in the Security Council. Regardless, as a result of
the Israeli government’s total disregard for Palestinian
lives and the Bush administration’s complacency toward
Israeli human rights abuses, it is time for Israel to be placed
under the same legitimate standards that every other nation in the
world is placed under.
Sending International observers to areas of conflict is a
moderate and standard process that has been used in many different
parts of the globe. Since Israel has repeatedly denied claims
of human rights violations made against her, it is astonishing that
Israel has not relished this opportunity to clear her name. That is
unless Israel has something to hide.
Mohammed Elghoul
LSA senior
Vice-chair, Students Allied for Freedom and Equality